Saints drop outings to D.H. Conley and Whiteville

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 10, 2012 1:48 PM

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GREENVILLE -- Southern Wayne head baseball Trae McKee searched for the positives Monday afternoon after the Saints logged a 1-2 worksheet during three Pitt County Classic contests over a two-day period.

He certainly found a few.

Senior third baseman Tyler Gainey earned a spot on the Pitt County Classic all-tournament team with eight hits in three outings. Fellow all-tournament team pick Cody Wendorf fanned a career-high 14 batters in the Saints' lone victory over West Carteret on Saturday.

Bullpen mates Jackson Hayes and Jamar Holmes threw solid outings. Hayes took a hard-luck, 3-1 loss against perennial 2-A powerhouse Whiteville at Guy Smith Stadium on Monday. Holmes tossed three innings of two-strikeout scoreless relief in a 9-4 setback against D.H. Conley.

"Jackson had a positive outing and I feel comfortable throwing him out there again, he was hurt early," McKee said. "He had a good outing. I saw some guys trying to make some adjustments with two strikes in game two, and I thought we put the ball in play a little bit better in game two (against Whiteville).

"We have to learn how to keep competing, you know."

Southern Wayne (11-7 overall) scratched out four hits against Wolfpack right-hander Hunter Smith, who recorded five strikeouts and walked one in a complete-game effort. Taylor Brock logged the Saints' lone RBI with a sacrifice fly that scored lead-off hitter Clayton Cashwell in the first inning.

Smith allowed just five base runners the remainder of the game. A double play wiped out a third-inning scoring chance and Cashwell was caught stealing in the fifth inning after picking up his third single of the day in the two-game set.

Hayes, a right-hander, permitted three runs (one earned) on five hits. Jeremy Taylor threw a scoreless sixth.

"I thought we played well on Saturday," McKee said. "Today, game one against Conley was not our best game by no means. I was a little disappointed in our competitiveness in game one, and I thought we responded well in game two.

"Whiteville is a good club and that boy (Smith) on the mound has a good arm."

Southern Wayne loaded the bases with no outs in the first against Conley, but came up empty. The Vikings (9-5) scratched for a single run during their half of the first and sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run, second-inning outburst.

The Saints managed six hits against three Vikings pitchers, but stranded 10 runners and punched out 10 times at the plate.