Mozingo notches first win over CBA

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 21, 2012 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

PIKEVILLE -- Zack Mozingo accomplished a feat he had never achieved on Tuesday evening.

Mozingo logged a complete-game effort and claimed his first-ever career victory over archrival Charles B. Aycock, 5-1, in Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference play.

"Mo did a great job of battling through adversity," Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum said. "He struggled to find his fastball a little bit in the first inning, and then he got hit by a pitch in the fourth and his arm has a pretty good bruise on it."

Eastern Wayne opened the scoring in the top of the first when Wes Capps plated Hunter Barnett with an RBI single.

C.B. Aycock immediately answered with a run in the bottom of the first. Adam Pate singled, stole second and moved to third on a groundout. A sacrifice fly by Bryant Stafford tied the game at 1-1.

The Warriors broke the game open in the second inning.

Josh Dixon and Wesley Stewart each reached base on back-to-back Golden Falcon errors. Grayson Wells laid down a sacrifice bunt ahead of Ryan Faucette's RBI single. Mozingo capped the outburst with an RBI single to make it 3-1.

"You cannot give a good team like Eastern Wayne five or six outs in an inning," C.B. Aycock head coach Charles Davis said. "We talked about it after the game, but that second inning really was the difference."

Faucette put the Warriors ahead 4-1 with a solo home run in the fourth inning. Nolan James added an RBI double that plated M.J. Morgan. Morgan was in the game to pinch-run for Mozingo, who was hit on his throwing elbow by pitch.

Unwilling to leave the mound, Mozingo stretched in the dugout and returned for the final four innings. The North Carolina signee finished with six strikeouts.

C.B. Aycock tallied five total hits. Adam Pate and Cameron Taylor each had two knocks. Justin Barbour added one hit.

Eastern Wayne recorded 10 hits and took advantage of three Golden Falcon errors.

"I thought that getting ahead was very important for us," Fulghum said. "We got ahead early and that allowed the guys to relax and swing the bats."

Eastern Wayne (6-3 overall, 4-0 ECC) plays host to Wilson Hunt today, while C.B. Aycock (6-2, 3-2) entertains Rosewood at 5 p.m.