Warriors rout Hawks

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on April 22, 2011 1:47 PM

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LaGRANGE -- Eastern Wayne may have finally figured it out.

At least it appeared that way Thursday night.

The Warriors pounded out 14 hits and hammered North Lenoir 15-2 in the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference regular-season finale for both teams. Eastern Wayne secured the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament and the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

"This was a big win for sure tonight," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum. "I told the guys that we had a couple of rough weeks, but we still have time to turn it around. I hope that tonight was the first step in doing that."

The Warriors got started early with a run in the second inning on a base hit from Tyler Ware.

Eastern Wayne broke the game open in the third inning when a Greg Simms home run pushed the visitors' lead to 4-0.

"We finally swung the bats with confidence," said Fulghum. "North Lenoir helped us out with a couple errors early, but we took advantage with some timely hits."

Eastern Wayne added six runs in the top of the fourth.

Dante Arthur was hit by a pitch, Jake May belted a base hit and Simms drew a walk to start the inning. Zach Mozingo reached on an error that plated a run and was followed by a walk to Nolan James. Ryan Faucette reached on another Hawks miscue and Ware capped the inning with a two-run double.

That run support was more than enough for Mozingo, who carried a perfect game into the fifth inning before the Hawks got on the board. Spencer Bass drew a walk, JT Williams singled and Bass scored on a groundout by Mikal Batts.

"Mo was really good for four innings," said Fulghum. "He pitched a great game, but those first four innings were special. He was rolling."

Mozingo recorded 12 strikeouts and allowed three hits in a complete-game effort.

Eastern Wayne invoked the mercy rule with five runs in the sixth inning. Arthur's two-RBI double highlighted the inning.

The Warriors and Hawks return to action in the Pitt County Spring Invitational. Eastern Wayne (13-6 overall, 8-4 ECC) battles West Craven on Saturday. The game is being played at 11 a.m. at South Central High School.

North Lenoir (12-5, 7-5) plays D.H. Conley at noon at Guy Smith Stadium.