Frederick twirls gem as Post 11 splits twinbill
By From staff reports
Published in Sports on June 20, 2010 1:51 AM
WINTERVILLE -- One strike.
That's all Josh Frederick needed to record his first career no-hitter in an American Legion baseball uniform Saturday evening.
He'll gladly take the one-hit shutout, instead.
Frederick retired 14 consecutive batters during four-plus innings, and Wayne County Post 11 captured a 12-0 decision over Pitt County Post 39 in game two of a doubleheader at the Minges-Overton Complex.
Pitt County took the opener, 7-2, and won the best-of-three regular-season series 2-1.
While Post 11 head coach Rob Watt had a 'heart-to-heart' meeting in center field between games, Frederick concentrated on his mechanics in the bullpen. The extra work proved beneficial since he had to abandon the change-up and rely on just two pitches -- the fastball and curveball.
Frederick threw both effectively and efficiently in the mercy rule-shortened affair. The crafty southpaw issued lead-off walks in the first two innings and relinquished his no-hit bid when Ethan Cochran doubled with two outs in the sixth. In between, Frederick logged eight strikeouts and induced six ground-ball outs, including an inning-ending double play in the first.
Post 39 had three flyouts, including two pop-outs to Frederick.
"That's a super effort right there," said Watt of Frederick. "You're not going to get those every day. It's fun to be a part when something like that is happening. We were one strike away, but man, one hit through six innings ... outstanding."
Frederick faced just three batters over the minimum for a six-inning game and allowed just two balls to leave the infield. Post 39 suffered its second loss in three outings against Area I East South Division opposition within a 24-hour span. Kinston upended Pitt 7-5 on Friday.
The zeroes continued to pop up inning by inning.
"I looked back a whole lot and thought about it the whole game," said Frederick. "But I didn't say anything because I knew that (the two-out double) would happen right there. Someone said (Hunter) Newsome said something (in the dugout) and the very next pitch, one strike left, he reaches his bat out and hits one by our third baseman."
While Frederick got the job done on the rubber, his teammates kept their composure and focus at the plate. Tyler Edwards' first-inning double and Zack Chase's double two batters later eventually provided Frederick's winning margin. Edwards batted 2-for-4 and reached base twice, while Chase finished 1-for-2 with two walks.
Wayne County (8-5 overall) produced just seven hits, but benefited from 12 walks issued by five Post 39 hurlers. Watt's team scored in five of six innings, a far cry from its four-hit output in the opener.
"The talk didn't have too much to do with baseball, but just how you approach baseball," said Watt. "It seemed to work. They came out ready to play and without getting into the actual conversation, the boys responded to it. They were a different team in game two."
Pitt County (10-4) erased a 2-0 deficit with a seven-run, second-inning outburst in game one. Sean Peters, Ben Longton, Cameron Cecil and Chase McDonald each supplied RBI hits to put Post 39 in command against Wayne County right-hander Matt Neal.
Ted Deters claimed the mound win in relief of Cochran, who permitted two unearned runs and registered five strikeouts in two innings. Deters held Wayne County scoreless in his five-inning, three-strikeout stint.
Post 11 left 10 men on base and punched out eight times.