Post 11 wins opener over Ahoskie
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on May 23, 2010 1:50 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- The Rob Watt era is officially off and running.
The new head coach of Wayne County Post 11 got his tenure started right with an 18-6 American Legion victory over Ahoskie Post 102 on Saturday night at Scarborough Field.
With 10 players that are on the American Leagion roster still retained by their respective high schools in the state playoffs, Watt was anxious to see how the nine players on the field would respond.
"We have a few guys that are not here and some of the guys out here tonight are trying to play their way into a spot," Watt said after the game. "I thought we did a good job at the plate and we made Ahoskie's pitchers pay when they got some balls up in the zone."
The season opener did not get off to a good start for Wayne County.
Ahoskie opened the contest with five runs in the top of the first inning as Post 11 starter Eric DuBose struggled to find the strike zone.
Wayne County immediately answered in the bottom half of the frame when Will Bynum walked, Kevin Wise singled and Adron Hollowell plated both runners with a base hit. Hollowell scored two batters later on an error by the Post 102 catcher.
Trailing 5-3, Wayne County broke the contest open in the home half of the third inning.
Hollowell drew a walk, Zack Chase found a similar fate and Nicholas McGee singled. Cody Davis reached on a fielder's choice. Zach Grantham reached on an error and was followed by consecutive walks to Jordan Quinn and Collin DuBose.
Wise delivered an RBI double, Hollowell walked for a second time and Chase belted an RBI single. McGee capped the scoring with an RBI single.
When the dust cleared, Wayne County held a 12-5 lead.
The cushion was more than enough for DuBose who settled down and battled through six innings for the mound win.
"This first part of the year its important to build trust with the pitchers," said Watt. "Eric struggled early but he wanted to go back out there and he said he felt good, so we stuck with him and he gave us as much as he could."
Wayne County invoked the mercy rule in the seventh inning when Zack Chase belted a ball to center field that was dropped and allowed Wise and Hollowell to score.
Ahoskie finished with eight errors and nine wild pitches on the game.
Wayne County (1-0) will try to build on Saturday night's success today when the team travels to Clayton. Post 11 returns to the campus of Mount Olive College on Monday to take on Apex.