ECBL: Aycock Blue doubles up Eastern Wayne

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on June 12, 2013 1:47 PM

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Charles B. Aycock Blue looked invincible for six innings.

Eastern Wayne rallied in the seventh, but came up short in an 8-4 loss on the Eastern Carolina Baseball League scene Tuesday evening.

Most of the game was dominated by Aycock Blue pitchers Logan Runyon and Jake Naughton. The duo combined to toss six innings of one-hit baseball. Naughton got the win on the mound.

"Logan looked good early, and then Jake took over and threw the ball really well," Aycock Blue head coach Allen Thomas said. "We got some timely hits early and got ahead which took some pressure off."

Aycock Blue (5-1 overall) took the lead in the third inning when Ryan Davis plated Connor Crandall with a sacrifice fly. The visitors added an insurance run in the fourth and broke the game open in the fifth when Logan Brown belted an RBI double and Davis followed with an RBI single that made the score 4-0.

Two passed balls and two wild pitches led to two additional Aycock Blue runs in the fifth inning. An Eastern Wayne error, a hit batsman and two more wild pitches allowed two more runs to cross the plate in the top of the seventh.

The 8-0 lead appeared insurmountable, but Eastern Wayne battled back in the bottom of the seventh. Brock Johnson, Braxton Lewis, and Coy Barnett each walked to load the bases. Brandon Johnson drew a fourth consecutive free pass to plate a run.

Tanner Wells followed with an RBI single that made the score 8-2. Collin Nix plated a run when he drew a walk and Brandon Johnson pulled Eastern Wayne within 8-4 when Carlyle Smith reached on an error.

"That last inning was not Aycock baseball," Thomas said. "Walks, errors, guys not being ready to play. We still won the game, but I was not pleased with how we closed it out."

Eastern Wayne (1-3 overall) is the guest of Wilson Hunt tonight. Aycock Blue visits Wayne for a doubleheader on Thursday.