Eastern Wayne turns back Archrival

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on April 25, 2012 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Eastern Wayne accomplished the first of its goals this season.

The Warriors claimed a 7-4 victory over Southern Wayne on Tuesday night and earned the outright Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference regular-season championship.

"Every year we want to do three things," Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum said. "We want to win the conference regular season, win the tournament and then play for a state championship. Four of the last five years we have won the regular-season title."

The Warriors got plenty of help from the Saints on Tuesday night.

Southern Wayne allowed five walks, made five errors and gave up five unearned runs in the defeat.

"We played a sloppy baseball game, plain and simple," Southern Wayne head coach Trae McKee said. "We had some chances to put things together at the plate and score some runs, but we gave too many runs away."

Each team scored one run in the third inning.

Eastern Wayne added to its total in the fourth when Wes Capps drew a walk and moved to third on Tyler Huetter's double. Capps scored on Josh Dixon's fielder's choice and Huetter raced home on an error to make it 3-1.

Southern Wayne cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Clayton Cashwell was hit by a pitch and later scored on Ashton Cox's sacrifice fly.

Eastern Wayne added one run in the sixth and broke the game open in the top of the seventh.

Ryan Faucette led off with a double and scored when Nolan James reached on an error. Huetter singled and Josh Dixon each singled. James and Huetter both scored on an overthrow and made the score 7-2.

Southern Wayne answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Cashwell was hit by a pitch and Keith Jones followed with a single. Tyler Gainey plated both runners with a double, but was stranded at second as Eastern Wayne pitcher Hunter Barnett got out of the jam.

"I think that Hunter got a little amped up there and maybe a little nervous when three guys in a row got on base," Fulghum said. "But overall he did a great job and he did what it took for us to win the game."

Eastern Wayne (14-5 overall, 10-1 ECC) concludes regular-season play at home Thursday against Charles B. Aycock. Southern Wayne (13-9, 7-4) plays host to South Johnston the same day.