Kinston dumps Wayne County

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on July 5, 2012 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

DUDLEY -- Timely hitting, sound defense and reliable been pitching have been staples of Wayne County Post 11's season all summer.

Those characteristics were nowhere to be found on Tuesday evening.

Post 11 stranded 12 runners on base, committed four errors and issued eight walks in a 10-3 loss to Kinston.

Wayne County (9-6, 4-3 Area I East South Division) concludes divisional play today when it plays host to New Bern in a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Post 11 can clinch the division with a sweep of the doubleheader.

Wayne County threatened in the bottom of the first inning with runners on first and second base and one out. Jamie Dove was thrown out at home attempting to score on Collin DuBose's single. Tyler Gainey grounded out to end the inning.

Kinston took a 1-0 lead on Mikal Batts' sacrifice fly in the top of the second inning.

Kinston tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Trent Murray provided an RBI single and Batts drew a bases-loaded walk.

Wayne County got a run back on Cameron Taylor's RBI groundout in the home half of the third.

Wayne County had runners on first and second base with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Collin DuBose grounded out to end the inning.

Post 11 stranded six runners on base through the first five innings.

"We didn't do a bad job of getting guys on," Wayne County assistant coach Jackson Massey said. "It was just the lack of timely hitting. We've just got to put the ball in play. We're taking strikes and swinging at balls and that just goes back to our approach."

Jacob Sasser's solo home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning pulled Wayne County to within 3-2. Post 11 had runners on second and third base with two outs but Post 43 starting pitcher Garrett Blackburn struck out Jamie Dove to work out of trouble.

Kinston pushed across three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Josh Harris delivered a two-run double and later scored on an error.

Wayne County cut the margin to 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Jacob Sasser's RBI groundout. Post 11 had runners on the corners but Kinston reliever Eddie Hawkins got Ashton Cox to ground out to end the inning.

Post 43 tacked on four runs in the top of the eighth. Batts raced home from third on a wild pitch and Ben Brann supplied an RBI single. Jeremiah Lanier scored on a passed ball and Josh Harris' sacrifice fly put Kinston in front 10-3.

"We had a couple of passed balls that they scored on," Massey said. "It seemed like every time we made an error that extended the inning and they would get two or three hits after that and that's what kills you."

Jeremy Taylor endured the loss on the mound.