Aycock escapes on Pate's walk-off home run

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on April 19, 2013 1:47 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- University of North Carolina signee Adam Pate belted a three-run, walk-off home run and led Charles B. Aycock past Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference rival Eastern Wayne 6-3 on Thursday night.

It was the second consecutive Thursday night that the Golden Falcons used late-inning heroics to come away with a critical conference win.

"Tonight should not have come down to the seventh inning," C.B. Aycock head coach Charles Davis said. "Eastern Wayne battled back and we were fortunate to get out of here with a win ... sometimes you have to take them any way you can get them."

The Golden Falcons (15-6 overall, 8-3 ECC) jumped ahead in the bottom of the second inning.

Noah West and Jacob Naughton delivered back-to-back singles to start the frame. Gregory Johnson cleaned up with a three-run home run to straightaway center field.

Aycock cruised through six innings behind starting pitcher Bobby Hampton, but Eastern Wayne (8-10, 4-6) had other ideas in the seventh inning.

Grayson Wells led off with a bunt single and moved to second when Brandon Johnson walked. Ryan Faucette reached on an error, which allowed Wells to score.

Josh Dixon followed with an RBI double and Tyler Huetter tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly.

"Our kids never quit and they never hung their heads," Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum said. "We had opportunities to score earlier in the game that never materialized and we just kept battling."

C.B. Aycock made the most of its last at-bat.

Garrett Joyner drew a one-out walk and moved to second when Hampton was dealt a similar fate. Pate looked at two strikes before he got a pitch to his liking and lined it over the fence in center field.

"I thought we had two excellent at-bats to get men on base and give ourselves a chance," Davis said. "And who else would you want to have at the plate in that situation than Adam Pate."

Pate also earned the win on the pitcher's mound with 2/3 of an inning of relief. Pate and Hampton combined for 15 strikeouts.

Ryan Faucette suffered the loss for Eastern Wayne despite allowing just one hit over four innings of relief. Faucette struck out eight batters and issued four walks.

"We are down, but we are certainly not out," Fulghum said. "We have two big games next week and we still have a chance to earn a playoff spot. We have to go out and take care of business."

Eastern Wayne plays host to Triton on Tuesday. C.B. Aycock plays host to Southern Wayne on Apr. 25.