Wayne County gets comeback win in wild affair with Wilson
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 19, 2011 1:51 AM
WILSON -- An ugly ballgame.
Oh yeah.
A much-needed win?
Definitely.
What shaped up as a "same story, different opponent" outing turned into a grind-it-out, comeback affair for Wayne County Post 11 on Friday evening.
Reliever Jordan Quinn induced two critical, late-game double plays, and Post 11 thrice erased three-run deficits in a 13-10 conquest of Area I East nemesis Wilson Post 13 at venerable Fleming Stadium.
Wayne County avoided its first three-game losing streak since 2008.
"An ugly baseball game, but a testament to the guys for staying in the game, for sure," said Post 11 head coach Rob Watt. "Not very often can you get away with making seven errors, but the offense answered. Jordan did a great job coming in, putting up some zeroes and getting out some big jams.
"He made some pitches when he needed to."
The two most-important pitches occurred in the eighth and ninth inning.
Quinn, a rising sophomore at Southeastern Community College, surrendered a lead-off single to Avery Harper in the eighth. He coaxed catcher Logan Butts into a double-play grounder and ended the inning with a strikeout.
Post 13 loaded the bases in the ninth on three consecutive singles.
Quinn lured Zac Houchins, who had reached base in each of his five previous at-bats, into a grounder back up the middle. Quinn threw to home for the force out and catcher Nick McGee gunned Houchins down at first for the double play.
"Nick said Jordan made a good pitch, on the outer half of the plate and he (Houchins) got a swing on it," said Watt. "That was huge getting him out front on the change-up a little bit, and getting that double play."
Quinn forced Mitchell Wheeler into a game-ending flyout to center field, and notched his first-ever victory in a Legion uniform. The left-hander tossed three innings of no-run, three-strikeout relief behind starter Derek Limbaugh and middle reliever Zach Beachem.
Wayne County (8-4 overall) tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning on Jonathan Taylor's RBI double and Adron Hollowell's second RBI sacrifice fly of the game. Harper put Wilson back in front, 7-4, with a three-RBI double in the bottom of the fifth.
Tyler Farmer's three-run bomb over the right center-field fence knotted the contest at 7-7 in the sixth. It was Farmer's first-ever home run in Legion action, and just the team's fourth of the season.
Wilson (7-6) answered with a three-run sixth, but couldn't hold the lead. Wayne County climbed within 10-9 in the seventh and forged ahead with two runs in the eighth on RBI hits from McGee and Cameron Taylor.
Taylor's RBI sac grounder in the ninth capped the scoring. Wayne County concluded the night with a single-game, program-best six sacrifices.
"That was a big insurance run with the push bunt," said Watt. "That puts you more than a base runner and a swing away ... they're going to have to earn (the win). That was a bigger play than people probably think."
Every starter in the Post 11 lineup contributed to the 16-hit attack. Jon Taylor and McGee pounded out three hits apiece. Farmer (four RBI), Cody Davis and Zach Grantham each contributed two hits.
Hollowell, Tyler Ruffin, Cameron Taylor (RBI) and Hunter Barnett (RBI) each finished with one hit.
"A lot of teams would have packed it in, I think, after seeing that we weren't playing well early defensively," said Watt, whose team allowed five unearned runs. "But they kept pounding away offensively, were aggressive on the bases ... guys really handled the bat well. It's a big win for us and this team finally feels like they're never out of a baseball game."