Eastern Wayne rallies in 7th against Southern Wayne

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 20, 2011 1:51 AM

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DUDLEY -- It's never too early in the season for a character-building win.

Eastern Wayne rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on for a 6-2 victory at over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference archrival Southern Wayne on Friday evening.

The Warriors trailed 2-1 with one out in the top of the seventh inning before Greg Simms and Wes Capps delivered back-to-back singles off Saints' starting pitcher Will Broadwell.

Broadwell was removed for reliever Will Raynor and Nolan James' RBI single tied the game at 2-2. Ryan Mitchell's pinch-hit, RBI single gave Eastern Wayne the lead for good.

James scored on an error and Benito Avila and Jake May added RBI singles.

"We were finally patient enough to bunch some hits together," said Warriors' head coach Jabo Fulghum. "Ryan Mitchell came off the bench and gave us a timely hit. When you get in this conference, you've got to have some character. To win late builds confidence and some character."

Eastern Wayne starting pitcher Zach Mozingo recorded 13 strikeouts and surrendered two earned runs on four hits with four walks in six innings to earn the win. Seven of Mozingo's 13 strikeouts were on called third strikes.

Logan Wicks worked a scoreless seventh inning.

"We've just got to finish them off when we've got them on the ropes," said Southern Wayne head coach Trae McKee. "Mozingo's tough and he's got enough velocity that you've got to respect it. I think we've got to put the ball in play and put pressure back on the defense.

"We looked at too many strike three's."

Mozingo's solo home run in the top of the first inning put the Warriors in front 1-0. Zach Grantham's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning tied the game at 1-1.

Tyler Gainey's solo home run to right field in the home half of the sixth inning gave the Saints a 2-1 lead.

James led Eastern Wayne with two hits.

Cody Davis and Kevin Wise each had two hits for Southern Wayne.

The Warriors (6-2, 3-0 ECC) entertain Charles B. Aycock on Tuesday, while Southern Wayne (5-2, 1-1) visits South Johnston.