Taylor's walk-off single caps wild comeback against Kinston Post 43

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 20, 2012 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Relax.

See the ball.

Put the ball in play.

Cameron Taylor did those things -- plus one more.

The Charles B. Aycock alum delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning and capped Wayne County Post 11's wild, come-from-behind 10-9 triumph over nemesis Kinston Post 43 on Tuesday evening.

"Was it a hit?" Taylor asked.

The base knock -- Taylor's fifth of the night -- deflected off the glove of Post 43 shortstop Josh Harris, who had dove to his right to stop the ball from bouncing into left field. By the time Harris recovered, Jamie Dove easily scored from second base and Post 11 handed Post 43 its first defeat of the season in eight outings.

"I knew I had to put the ball in play, just see it well, relax and have fun," Taylor said. "I didn't try to do too much ... just wanted to see what happens and make the defense work."

Neither Kinston's bullpen nor its defense could preserve a solid outing from starter Garrett Blackwell. The right-hander fanned 11 Wayne County batters, scattered five hits and yielded an unearned run in six innings of work.

Post 11 stranded six runners during that stretch and left the bases loaded in the fourth inning.

"Garrett did a great job throwing against us and I know he had a bunch of punchouts," Wayne County head coach Jason Sherrer said. "He threw really well and we didn't have an answer for him."

Trailing 7-1, Wayne County started its improbable comeback in the seventh. Taylor connected on a one-out double off of Post 43 reliever Josh Spear. Tyler Gainey singled and both runners trotted home on Zack Mozingo's home run over the right-field fence -- his first round-tripper of the season.

It was Mozingo's fourth homer during his Legion career.

Post 43's Brian Hardy (3-for-5, 5 RBI) got two runs back with a two-RBI blast in the eighth. But Kinston wouldn't score again and its 9-4 advantage disappeared over the next two innings.

Wayne County pulled within 9-7 on a run-scoring wild pitch and RBI hits from Taylor and Mozingo in the eighth. Taylor's RBI base hit highlighted a two-run ninth that included an error and another run-scoring wild pitch.

"Cameron went off today," Sherrer said.

Post 11 and Post 43 each stranded the go-ahead run in the 10th and 11th innings, respectively. Dove started Wayne County's game-winning rally with a lead-off walk and moved to second when Post 43's infield booted a routine ground ball.

One out later, Taylor delivered his game-winning knock.

"Things hadn't been going our way during games before with Wilmington and Clayton," Taylor said. "Something had to turn and go our way."

Wayne County (4-3 overall) travels to Area I East South Division foe New Bern today. First pitch is 7 p.m. at Boykin Field on the New Bern High School campus.