Wayne County splits twinbill with Clayton

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 26, 2013 1:52 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Misfortune turned into a timely hit.

And Wayne County Post 11 remained in position to claim a weekend series against Senior Legion nemesis Clayton Post 71 on Saturday evening.

Jacob Sasser's two-out, walk-off single gave Post 11 a 4-3 victory that evened the best-of-three, non-division series at one game apiece at Scarborough Field on the Mount Olive College campus.

Clayton benefited from seven errors and claimed a 15-3, mercy-rule decision in the opener.

Game three is today at 4 p.m.

After hitting into a rally-killing double play on a bunt pop-up in the sixth, Wayne County again put pressure on the Post 71 defense in the seventh. Ryan Faucette connected on a lead-off single up the middle and advanced to second base on an infield error.

Clayton reliever Blake Mitchell induced consecutive groundouts, which forced out Faucette and put Post 11 runners Zack Smith and Jamie Dove at second and third base, respectively. Sasser worked Mitchell to a 2-0 count and poked the game-winning single past the out-stretched glove of shortstop Jack Sherrill into center field.

Dove trotted home to end the game.

Left-hander Bryant Stafford emerged the winning pitcher in relief of starter Jackson Hayes. Stafford provided 3 1/3 innings of one-hit, five-strikeout relief and retired seven of the final eight batters he faced.

Hayes yielded three earned runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.

In the opener, Clayton pushed across multiple runs in five of six innings against three Wayne County hurlers. Post 71 tallied 11 unearned runs and sent 32 total batters to the plate in the third through sixth innings.

Post 11 mustered three earned runs on seven hits, and grounded into double plays in the fifth and sixth innings. Cody Neal took the mound loss in his Legion debut.

South Johnston standout Lane Johnson was the winning pitcher in the opener. The right-hander fanned four Post 11 batters and issued one walk on 72 pitches.