So. Wayne-Ashley baseball

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 15, 2012 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne hurlers Cody Wendorf and Jacob Sasser did their job on the mound Tuesday afternoon.

Their teammates didn't come through at the plate.

The Saints stranded five runners in scoring position and managed just two hits overall in a 4-0, non-conference loss to Wilmington Ashley on the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex baseball diamond.

Wendorf retired six of the final eight batters he faced in four innings, and permitted three earned runs on five hits. Sasser sat down the first five batters he faced until he plunked two consecutive Ashley hitters in the sixth inning. Catcher Ashton Cox bailed out Sasser with an inning-ending pickoff at second base.

The duo combined for four strikeouts and three walks.

"They kept us in the ballgame," said Southern Wayne head coach Trae McKee of Wendorf and Sasser. "Cody, he had a mentality when had to throw a pitch, he really went right in there and did that. He needs to attack hitters a little more earlier in the count.

"Jacob made one mistake, but that boy (Chris Hicks) is a good hitter. He's got to trust his stuff a little more."

Hicks' seventh-inning, solo home run capped the Eagles' fourth consecutive road win, and sixth triumph overall in seven outings this season. Ashley snapped the Saints' four-game win streak.

Southern Wayne (5-2) put runners aboard in each of the first five innings. However, the Saints finished 0-for-7 with men in scoring position and didn't register a hit after the second inning.

Ashley left-hander Eric Eason (1-0) yielded two hits and walked five in 31/3 innings. Matt Davis, a right-hander, tossed 32/3 innings of four-strikeout relief in his fifth mound appearance of the season. He retired the final nine batters he faced after issuing a lead-off walk to Cox in the fifth inning.

"We've got to get on top of the baseball better, and see the top half of the baseball better," said McKee. "We were taking some big hacks in situations where we didn't need big hacks. We needed to hit the ball up the middle or in the gap. We got too big and out of control."