North Lenoir rallies past Wayne South, 8-5
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on June 20, 2010 1:51 AM
DUDLEY -- Wayne County South, for three innings, appeared poised to claim another Junior American Legion baseball victory Friday evening.
North Lenoir thought otherwise.
The visitors rallied in the final four innings and upended Wayne South 8-5 on the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex diamond.
"We let it get away from us in one inning," said Wayne South head coach Trae McKee. "We missed a couple of plays, and their guys came up with some big at-bats to get them back in it."
WC South started hot during its first at-bat.
Taylor Raynor was hit by a pitch and Keith Jones delivered a single. Each runner touched the plate on wild pitches, not long after a single by Taylor Gainey.
Ashton Cox singled, but Gainey was thrown out trying to score from second. A North Lenoir error allowed Cox to score and push WC South ahead, 3-0.
Mikal Batts put North Lenoir on the scoreboard with a second-inning, solo home run.
The visitors pulled ahead in the fourth.
Batts connected on a two-out base hit and Brian Hardy reached on a Wayne South error. A second miscue loaded the bases for Addison Harper, who came through with a two-run single. John Delaney added a two-run base hit to cap the scoring.
"We did not do a good job of pitching with two strikes," said McKee. "We got ahead in the count, but we allowed their hitters to take way too many healthy cuts on pitches in the strike zone."
North Lenoir (12-4 overall) added a run in each of the final three innings, and built an 8-4 advantage.
Wayne South (11-3) tried to rally.
Jones was hit by a pitch and stole second base ahead of Will Raynor, who reached on a dropped ball in the North Lenoir outfield. Batts settled down and retired the final batter of the game to preserve the victory.
Delaney pitched five innings to earn the mound win. Will Raynor suffered the loss over a five-inning outing.
North Lenoir traveled to Cary for a doubleheader Saturday. Wayne South entertains county foe Spring Creek on Monday. First pitch is 7 p.m.