Pouse pitches Cary past Aycock

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on July 10, 2010 11:51 PM

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DUDLEY -- Max Pouse continued to pound the strike zone with fastball after fastball.

Charles B. Aycock did all it could to try and catch up.

Pouse turned in a dominating performance as the Cary Bulls defeated the Golden Falcons 4-0 on Friday in the Junior American Legion East Regional at Southern Wayne High School.

The loss moved Aycock into an elimination game on Saturday.

With a fastball in the low 90s, the 6-foot-9 Pouse tossed six shutout innings and struck out 11 while surrendering four hits and two walks to earn the win on the mound.

"He went out there and did a good job and dominated with his fastball," said Golden Falcons head coach Nelson Cunningham. "It was good for our guys to have to face that. I'll be honest, I wasn't really happy that we

had to face them since they're already in the state tournament. I think they're taking somebody else's spot."

Aycock used a walk and two bunt singles to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third. Pouse used a pair of strikeouts and Cameron Taylor's bunt attempt to end the threat.

"We did a good job with the bottom of the lineup putting the ball in play with some bunts," said Cunningham. "Unfortunately, we got to the top of the lineup and Pouse is still a great pitcher and he kind of overpowered

us. I think that took the breath away from us."

Tyler Lapp's two-run triple in the top of the fourth gave the Bulls a 2-0 lead. Tyler Pickard added an RBI groundout. Pickard's solo home run in the top of the seventh extended the lead to 4-0.

Golden Falcons' starting pitcher Bryant Stafford kept Aycock in the ballgame by scattering eight hits while allowing five runs (four earned) with 10 strikeouts and one walk in six innings.

"I'm proud of Stafford," said Cunningham. "Stafford turned in a heck of a performance today. I was proud. We did a lot of growing today."

Tyler Farmer led the Golden Falcons' offense with a 2 for 3 performance at the plate.