Weddington eliminates C.B. Aycock baseball
By Steve Herring
Published in Sports on June 2, 2012 11:35 PM
ZEBULON -- It has been a "heck of a ride," Coach Charles Davis said of his Charles B. Aycock Golden Falcons' season -- a ride that ended Saturday afternoon at Five-County Stadium with a 4-2 loss to Weddington High School for the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A state baseball crown.
Errors cost the Golden Falcons on Friday. Weddington tried to return the favor Saturday with three errors in the second game. Pitchers for both teams struggled to find the strike zone, walking 13 batters between them.
Senior Bryant Stafford worked the first six innings for the Golden Falcons and surrendered three runs, only one earned, off two hits. He walked six and fanned three. Adam Pate pitched the final frame giving up one earned run off one hit.
"(Stafford) gutted it up and that is what he has done for me all year," Davis said. "He is a senior and I hate to see him go. He put us in position to win the game, but when you are only getting two runs like that... . The other team walked some batters. Their pitcher struggled to find the strike zone, too and they committed three errors, but we just couldn't ever get a hit with runners in scoring position."
Davis noted that Weddigton walked nine Friday, but was still able to win
"It goes back to getting a key hit in a key situation," he said. "We left 10 guys on. They are a very well-coached team. They are solid behind the plate and solid at shortstop. They have a very good team. You have to play well to beat them and unfortunately we did not play quite good enough."
Sean Collins went the distance for the win giving up two earned runs off five hits. He walked five and struck out three.
"We won a lot of games this year that we got outhit, too," Davis said. "We just couldn't ever seem to get the hit in the key situations and that was, I think, the tale of both ballgames. Even going back to yesterday's (Friday's) game -- we make one error and they capitalize on it. They make three (Saturday) and we don't capitalize on it.
"We have nothing to be ashamed about, or hold our heads down about. There are a lot of teams that would like to be in our position right now. I can guarantee that. This ball park, theses kids, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a majority of these kids. Hopefully they will end up taking something positive out of it. It hurts right now. They are disappointed, but they will end up taking something positive out off it because it was a heck of a ride."
The Golden Falcons drew first blood in the second scoring two run aided by back-to-back bunts and two Warrior errors.
Justin Barbour reached on a blooper to right to open the Golden Falcons' half of the second. Courtesy runner Jordan Lee moved to second on a bunt by Stafford who was safe at first. With Garrett Joyner running for Stafford, left fielder Logan Brown was tagged out on his bunt that still managed to advance the runners with one out.
The first run scored on the wild pitch and the second on a deep flyball to right field by center fielder Bobby Hampton.
The Warriors tied the game at 2-2 in the third. With two outs Daniel Calabreta walked and was headed for second, but didn't stop until he reached third when Alex Bostic's single was thrown high to first. Andrew Knight walked to load the bases. Jeremy Schellhorn's hit to left field score two runs.
The Warriors went up by one in the fifth when a long ball smacked by Bostic hit high on the center field wall. Bostic was headed for third when the umpire ruled it a home run.
The Warriors added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, again with two outs.
Pate had thrown one strike to Bostic when Davis told officials to give him a walk. With the count 3-2 Pate gave up a walk to Knight to put runners on first and second. Schellhorn's single scored the final run.
Aycock opened the home half of the inning with a walk to Collin Dubose. Barbour followed with a shot to Schellhorn at first who made an unassisted double play.
The Falcons threatened on several occasions, but were unable to take advantage of baserunners, leaving 10 players stranded.
Davis said a coach always wants to think at the start of the season that their team will make it to the championship series. He is hopeful the experience will drive the team next year.
"I hope that they will realize that even though it is a bigger stage it is still the same game," Davis said. "I think a couple of times we got caught up in the atmosphere, but I think they will realize it what an awesome experience and an opportunity to play for a state championship."