Wayne County - Pitt County, Game 3

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 14, 2011 1:47 PM

• Print
• Email

WINTERVILLE -- Jordan Quinn showed some guts.

His teammates showed some resilience.

Wayne County Post 11 overcame its sloppiest defensive performance of the postseason and captured the Area I East championship with a 9-4 conquest of Pitt County Post 39 on a humid, rainy Wednesday evening.

Post 11 swept the best-of-five series 3-0 and earned a trip to Morehead City for the N.C. American Legion state tournament, which begins July 22.

"It's a good feeling," said Wayne County head coach Rob Watt.

But Watt had mixed emotions over the outcome. Wayne County (24-5 overall) survived a seven-error outing, including three first-inning miscues. Three of Post 39's four runs were unearned.

"We've got to clean it up on the infield, for sure," said Watt.

Quinn tossed the pitching staff's first nine-inning complete game of the playoffs. The rising sophomore at Southeastern Community College scattered eight hits on 124 pitches, including 77 strikes.

A southpaw, Quinn worked methodically and reached a full count just twice -- both times against Post 39 clean-up hitter Gray Dixon. Quinn issued five walks overall and held Pitt County's top five batters to six hits in 17 official plate appearances.

One night earlier, the same quintet combined for 10 hits, nine RBI and two home runs.

"When you work through seven errors and throw a complete game, that's just beating up the strike zone," said Watt of Quinn's performance. "That's a testament to how he pitches. He forces bat contact, does a great job of mixing speeds and throwing it in and out (at the plate).

"Jordan trusted all three pitches he's got and can throw any pitch in any count. When there are a lot of balls put in play, there are more chances for errors, obviously."

Quinn induced two double-play balls that killed third- and eighth-inning rallies. He retired the side in the sixth and ninth innings, and collected his team-leading sixth victory in eight mound appearances this season.

The teams traded leads in the first 2 1/2 innings.

Wayne County took control for good with a four-run, third-inning outburst. Kevin Wise (1-for-3) drove home the go-ahead run on a two-strike single, and switch-hitting Adron Hollowell provided the game-winning RBI on a two-run double into left-center field.

Hollowell finished with three hits and three RBI.

Post 39 pulled within 5-3 in the fourth, but could get no closer.

Post 11 tallied four back-breaking runs in the seventh. An error, passed ball, two hit batsmen and four hits allowed Wayne County to further pad its cushion, 9-3.

"I like the fact that we're continuing to be offensive," said Watt. "We're taking good swings. We had a couple of punchouts tonight, but I didn't see very many ABs that were wasted by any means. We put ourselves in good counts to hit."

Wayne County cranked out 13 hits, including 12 against ailing left-hander Jordan Deloatch. The UNC Pembroke signee pitched with a hairline fracture and two pulled tendons in his throwing hand.

Wise batted 3-for-4 with an RBI, while clean-up hitter Jonathan Taylor supplied two hits. Tyler Farmer, Zach Grantham, Nick McGee (RBI) and Tyler Ruffin contributed one hit apiece.

Post 11 returns to action in the Area I championship series, which is slated to begin Sunday.