Errors, walks prove critical in Saints' loss

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on April 3, 2013 1:47 PM

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WINTERVILLE -- Southern Wayne gave Raleigh Sanderson 12 extra outs on Tuesday afternoon.

The Spartans didn't waste their chances during a 7-4 victory over the Saints, who committed six errors and had three pitchers to issue a combined six walks on the final day of the 2013 Pitt County Classic.

"I think the physical mistakes were compounded by the mental mistakes that we made," Saints' head coach Trae McKee said. "We made a few mental mistakes and we weren't really attacking the strike zone from the mound and it kind of put us on our heels a little bit.

"I just don't think that was our type of baseball, but we've got to bounce back."

Sanderson took a 1-0 lead on Tyler Hardee's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning. Daniel Farrell drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs to bring an end to Southern Wayne starting pitcher Jackson Hayes' day on the mound.

Hayes surrendered two earned runs on one hit with three strikeouts and three walks in 22/3 innings and settled for a no-decision.

"Jackson has really been searching and we're searching for him to find his off-speed stuff," McKee said. "He has not been very sharp the last couple outings that he's had. We've just got to attack the strike zone."

The Saints (10-5 overall) strung together four consecutive base hits in the top of the fourth inning and Thomas Kelly's RBI single pulled Southern Wayne to within 2-1. Jacob Hollingsworth raced home on a passed ball and Hunter Barwick added an RBI groundout.

Kelly later scored on a passed ball to give the Saints a 4-2 advantage.

Sanderson pushed across three runs in the home half of the fourth on an RBI single, a run-scoring error and an RBI groundout to take a 5-4 lead.

Hardee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth as the Spartans' lead grew to 6-4. Connor Baldy tacked on a run-scoring groundout for Sanderson in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Southern Wayne tallied just one hit in the final three innings. Spartans' starting pitcher Ray Roby pitched a complete game and earned the win on the mound.

The Saints' Jacob Sasser and Kevin Williams were both named to the All-Classic team. Southern Wayne travels to Triton on Apr. 9.