WC North doubles up Benson Post 109

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on June 10, 2010 1:46 PM

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Wayne County North continues to show flashes of maturity and glimpses of youth.

While struggling to adjust at the plate early and plagued by a pair of errors defensively, Wayne North picked up a 6-3 Junior American Legion victory over Benson on Wednesday in New Hope.

Wayne North (4-4 overall) remained patient offensively as soft-throwing Benson starting pitcher John Barefoot labored to find the strike zone. Benito Avila and Wesley Stewart led off the bottom of the first with walks and Nolan James' RBI single scored Avila. James led the offense with two hits and an RBI.

Stewart and James both raced home on wild pitches.

Jake May added an RBI groundout in the home half of the second inning. Jeremy Lancaster's groundout in the bottom of the third scored Wesley Capps to give Wayne North a 5-0 lead.

"I thought we got out on our front foot too much," said Wayne North coach Roger May. "He wasn't throwing probably 55 miles per hour. You can't get out on your front side on somebody throwing that slow. It's a learning process for these guys.

"Hopefully maybe we'll get the hang of it and move on."

Wayne North starting pitcher Logan Wicks tossed three no-hit innings and struck out six with no walks. Josh Dixon and Jake May each work two innings of relief.

"Logan's got a lot of potential," said May. "He's got some mechanical issues we're trying to work out. He can be a horse for us in high school ball."

Will Dupree's solo home run in the top of the fourth trimmed the margin to 5-1.

Stewart's RBI single in the bottom of the fourth extended the lead to 6-1.

Benson picked up a run on a Wayne North error in the top of the fifth and Jimmie Massengil delivered an RBI single in the sixth inning. Wayne North also committed an error in the top of the seventh.

"It's a good win, but a coach is never satisfied," said May. "If you're going to get better and you want to play, every day you've got to come out and work at it every day. I thought we were the better team, but we didn't do some little things well.

"You have to play all three phases of the game."

Wayne North visits Tarboro on Friday.