EW - Currituck
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on May 20, 2010 1:46 PM
Eastern Wayne overcame an early deficit and a brief power outage en route to a 6-2 win over Currituck in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A baseball playoffs.
The Warriors travel to West Brunswick on Friday.
"It was kind of a weird night, but we were able to play in spite of the variables at hand," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum. "I thought our guys did a good job of squaring up balls early in the game and we played hard for seven innings."
The Knights got off to a hot start in the first inning when Josh Vales singled and Brady Cartwright delivered a sacrifice. Ryan Nicastro belted an RBI single and Justin Rose followed with an RBI base hit.
Trailing 2-0, the Warriors went to work at the plate in the home half of the inning.
Colton Fulghum drew a walk and Robert Faucette followed with a double. Cambric Moye reached on an error that allowed the tying runs to score. Zach Beachem put the home team ahead with an RBI double.
Two errors by the Knights in the second inning allowed the Warriors to tack on two additional runs. The 5-2 lead was more than enough for Zack Mozingo, who settled down on the pitchers' mound and began mowing down Currituck batters.
Mozingo struck out seven batters and earned the mound win.
"Zack did not have his best stuff but he did a good job of sticking with it," said coach Fulghum. "Once he settled down and started to move the ball around a little bit, he was a lot more successful."
Moye added a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning that capped the scoring.
With no outs in the top of the sixth inning, the lights surrounding the field suddenly shut off and caused a 20-minute delay. The lights had to cool down and restart before the game could be finished.
The victory sets up a rematch of last years' east semifinal game between Eastern Wayne (16-10 overall) and West Brunswick. The Warriors won that contest before eventually falling the state championship series.
"A lot of guys on both teams played in that game, and I know both teams will be excited for Friday," said Fulghum. "We have to raise the bar and play better each time out. This time of year the road gets tougher each round."