Saints rally past Hawks

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 27, 2011 1:51 AM

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LaGRANGE -- Southern Wayne belted three home runs and cruised past North Lenoir, 17-8, on the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference baseball scene on Friday night.

The Saints scored in every inning and wasted no time jumping out to an impressive lead.

Back-to-back singles by Cody Davis and Kevin Wise opened the game. Zach Grantham followed with a two-run double to put the visitors ahead.

Southern Wayne added five runs in the second inning when Wise hammered a fastball off of the roof of North Lenoir High School, well beyond the center-field fence.

The grand slam capped a big inning and sent the Hawks' starting pitcher Caleb Kearney to the showers.

"We really did an awesome job with the bats tonight, especially in the first three innings," Southern Wayne head coach Trae McKee said. "I thought our approach was good, especially when we got down to two strikes and had to adjust."

Already toting a 7-0 lead, the Saints added five additional runs in the top of the third inning. Jaime Dove walked, Keith Jones singled and Davis walked to load the bases. Wise drew the Saints' third walk of the inning and was followed by a double from Grantham.

Tyler Gainey capped the inning with a ground ball that plated Grantham.

North Lenoir avoided the mercy rule by pushing across one run in the bottom of the third and three more in the bottom of the fourth. Spencer Bass' two-run home run and Brian Hardy's solo shot kept the Hawks alive. However, they would never close the gap as Southern Wayne continued to score.

Davis, the Saints' lead-off batter reached base in five of seven innings and scored on four occasions. Grantham finished with four hits and five RBI. Jone supplied four hits and an RBI. Wise had two hits and five RBI.

"It was good to see the guys go to the plate ready to hit," McKee said. "It makes scoring runs a lot easier if that first guy can find a way on base."

Will Broadwell earned the win on the pitcher's mound for the Saints. Broadwell tossed two shutout innings and only allowed one hit. Jeremy Taylor and Taylor Raynor combined to work five innings of relief. Collectively, Raynor and Taylor allowed eight runs (three earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

Kearney took the loss for North Lenoir. Jackson had two hits and two RBI for the Hawks.

North Lenoir (8-2 overall, 3-2 ECC) travels to Eastern Wayne on Tuesday night, while Southern Wayne (8-3, 4-1) plays host to league-leading Charles B. Aycock.