Wayne County - Pitt County American Legion

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on July 12, 2011 1:47 PM

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WINTERVILLE -- Collin DuBose began Wayne County Post 11's posteason journey with a modest .275 batting average.

There was nothing modest about the nine-hole hitter's performance on Monday night. DuBose finished with four hits, including two home runs, and nine RBI as Post 11 defeated Pitt County Post 39, 18-9, at Lewis Field on the campus of Pitt Community College in game one of the best-of-five American Legion Area I East championship series.

The two teams meet again tonight at Scarborough Field on the campus of Mount Olive College. Game time is 7 p.m. The winner of the series advances to the state tournament.

Wayne County (22-5 overall) erupted for six runs with two outs in the top of the first inning. Jon Taylor's two-run double scored Tyler Farmer and Cody Davis. Zach Grantham added an RBI single and DuBose provided a two-run single.

Tyler Ruffin raced home on an error to cap the outburst.

Zach Holton's RBI single in the bottom of the first inning cut the lead to 6-1.

DuBose's RBI single in the top of the third inning scored Taylor to extend the margin to 7-1. Davis drew a bases-loaded walk to score Nick McGee.

Charlie Herring's RBI double in the home half of the third pulled Post 39 to within 8-2. Back-to-back RBI singles by Matt Ashorn and Stephen Whedbee in the bottom of the fourth inning trimmed the margin to 8-4. Austin Chiang's two-run homer trimmed the lead to 8-6.

Ruffin raced home on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth inning to push Wayne County's lead to 9-6. Taylor was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Farmer and increase the lead to 10-6.

Pitt County climbed to within 10-7 on Ashorn's RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Jarrett Ozimek's two-run double shrunk the lead to 10-9.

DuBose belted a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning as Post 11's lead grew to 12-9.

"A couple of weeks ago Collin was having tough luck," said Post 11 head coach Rob Watt. "He was hitting the ball hard and not having anything to show for it. He never got discouraged, he kept swinging the bat. Eventually, good things started happening and he had some huge hits."

The bottom five hitters in Wayne County's lineup combined for 11 of the team's 15 hits and had 12 RBI. Kevin Wise's two-run double stretched the margin to 14-9.

"Top to bottom I think we had production out of everybody, a hit or a run scored at least," said Watt. "We did a good job of putting the ball in play. Our offensive approach was great."

DuBose provided the exclamation point with a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning as the lead swelled to 18-9.

Derek Limbaugh surrendered six runs (four earned) on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings and recorded the win on the mound. Left-hander Aaaron Champion pitched 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the save.

"The last two times he's been out there Aaron has come in and just put a calm on the field," said Watt. "He lets his defense really work and he has an idea of what we're trying to do. He's done a great job for us."

Jordan Deloatch, the ace of Pitt County's pitching staff, suffered an injury to his left arm while sliding on Saturday night against Kinston Post 43. Deloatch's status for the remainder of the series is uncertain.