Wayne County edges Duplin-Sampson

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 1, 2011 1:47 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Season one is done.

Time for season two.

Playoff-bound Wayne County Post 11 recorded a near-perfect defensive effort and claimed a 4-1 decision over pesky Duplin-Sampson Post 128 on Thursday evening at Scarborough Field.

It was the regular-season finale for both Senior American Legion baseball squads. Post 11 launches the Area I East quarterfinals at home Sunday against Edenton. First pitch is 6 p.m. in the best-of-three series.

Post 128 starts the Area II playoffs Saturday.

"A pretty clean effort," said Wayne County coach Rob Watt.

Six Post 11 hurlers combined for an eight-hitter and nine strikeouts.

Derek Limbaugh surrendered the lone run in the first inning and permitted four hits in a three-inning stint. Jordan Quinn, who helped lead Brunswick Community College to the Division II JUCO World Series, threw two innings of two-strikeout relief to earn his third win of the season.

Bullpen mates Aaron Champion, Tyler Gainey, Hunter Barnett and Collin DuBose combined for four innings of no-hit, five-strikeout relief. Barnett and DuBose, who collected his second save of the season, each threw a perfect inning.

Duplin-Sampson (5-8 overall) stranded seven of 10 runners in scoring position. North Duplin standouts James Kornegay and Colby Gehron cranked out two hits apiece. Kornegay had the team's lone RBI.

"The pitching staff did a very good job," said Watt. "With the two New Bern games canceled, we wanted to get Derek and Jordan some innings because they were going to start those two games.

"Derek shook the rust off and settled down. Jordan carried his start from Rocky Mount over to this game and threw everything for a strike. The relievers did a good job."

Knotted at 1-1, Wayne County collected the eventual game-winning run during its second at-bat. Post 128 hurler Mason Warren struggled to fill up the strike zone and loaded the bases on walks with two outs.

Warren plunked Cody Davis, which allowed catcher Nick McGee to score for the 2-1 lead. It was Davis' 18th RBI of the season.

Wayne County (17-5) added single runs in the fifth and eighth innings. Gainey drove home Adron Hollowell (2-for-3) with a one-out base knock in the fifth. In the eighth, DuBose crushed a solo home run -- the first of his three-year Legion career and just the sixth by a Post 11 player this season.

"Collin had a great game," said Watt. "He's probably been our hard-luck guy offensively, for the most part. The last three or four games, he's hit more balls hard than anybody we have in the lineup and doesn't have much to show for it.

"He closed the game out ... very effective on the mound and his velocity was good."