Wayne County Post 11 splits doubleheader with Pitt County Post 39

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on June 5, 2011 1:51 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Rob Watt's return as Wayne County Post 11's head coach did not entirely go as planned.

Post 11 squandered an eight-run lead and dropped the second game of a doubleheader 13-12 to Pitt County Post 39 on Saturday at Charles B. Aycock.

Wayne County claimed the opener 5-3.

Jon Taylor's ground-rule double in the bottom of the first inning scored Cody Davis to give Post 11 a 1-0 lead. Taylor later scored on a Post 39 error.

Thomas Conlin's RBI double in the top of the second inning pulled Post 39 to within 2-1.

Tyler Gainey's two-run double in the bottom of the third inning pushed the lead to 4-1.

James' Pearce's two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning trimmed the deficit to 4-3.

Wayne County picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on Taylor's sacrifice fly. Taylor finished with two hits of Post 11's four hits. He also had two RBI and drew a walk.

Post 39 threatened in the top of the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate and two outs. Post 11 reliever Collin DuBose struck out Pearce to end the ball game. DuBose pitched 22/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the save.

Derek Limbaugh allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 41/3 innings to pick up the win.

"I thought Derek threw really well," said Watt. "He just ran out of gas there a little bit. Collin came in and shut the door and threw really, really well. Jon had two doubles that were instrumental in the win. That first game I thought that's the way baseball should be played."

Pearce got Pitt County on the board in the top of the second inning in game two with a solo home run to left field.

Gainey's RBI double in the home half of the second inning tied the game at 1-1. Cameron Taylor drove home a run on a fielder's choice and Cody Davis added a sac fly.

Charlie Herring's RBI double in the top of the third inning cut the lead to 3-2. Herring later scored on an error to tie the game at 3-3. Will Davis' RBI single gave Pitt County a 4-3 lead.

Jon Taylor's two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the third pushed Wayne County back in front 5-4. Gainey's RBI double and an error increased the lead to 7-4. DuBose and Davis tacked on RBI singles and Tyler Farmer provided an RBI ground out. The lead swelled to 12-4 on Jon Taylor's two-run single.

Pitt County got two runs back on solo homer runs from Austin Chiang and Matt Ashern in the top of the fourth inning. Jordan Deloatch's three-run homer in the top of the sixth cut the margin to 12-10.

Post 39 took the lead at 13-12 as three runs scored on Herring's RBI double and a Post 11 error.

"We had a chance to get some outs when we could and we didn't get them," said Watt. "They got two infield singles and then a bloop single. Baseball is funny that way. Stuff like that changes ballgames. We left a few pitches up and they capitalized."

Pitt County reliever Warren Harvey surrendered three runs (two earned) on two hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in five innings of relief to record the win.