Post 11 rolls to victory

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 15, 2013 11:57 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Same approach.

Same result.

And a milestone looms closer.

Ryan Faucette collected four hits and drove in three runs, and Wayne County Post 11 cruised to an 11-1 mercy-rule triumph over Area I East Division foe Edenton Post 40 at Scarborough Field on Saturday afternoon.

Post 11 claimed its 797th win in program history.

"We jumped on them early, kept the pressure on them and had a minor lapse for just one inning," Wayne County head coach Jason Sherrer said. "It's always good when you can put a run on the board each inning ... gives you a good chance of winning."

Wayne County (10-2 overall, 4-1 East) seized control during the first two innings.

Adam Pate fouled off two pitches with two strikes and blooped a lead-off single into left field. The hit sparked a three-run outburst that included an RBI single by Faucette and a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Jacob Sasser.

Post 11 extended its advantage with a three-run second. Garrett Joyner drew a bases-loaded RBI walk and Faucette delivered a two-run single up the middle. Faucette has driven in five runs over the last two games.

"Same kind of approach (today), look for our fastball early and don't miss it," Sherrer said. "I think we did that tonight, had plenty of extra-base hits and took advantage of their errors. We put them away early."

Back-to-back two-out triples by Pate and Joyner, and Faucette's third RBI hit of the afternoon spearheaded a three-run, fourth-inning outburst. Duane Gurganus slugged his first career Legion home run -- a 360-foot solo shot over the left-field fence -- in the fifth.

Consecutive throwing errors allowed Wayne County to invoke the mercy rule in the bottom of the sixth.

Post 11 right-hander Jackson Hayes, in his third start, permitted four hits and logged one strikeout in six innings. Ryan Grant provided one inning of two-strikeout relief.

"Jackson threw well and it's always good to pitch with a lead early," Sherrer said."Being up 6-0 threw two innings, he threw a lot of fastballs and had command of it. He made short work of their hitters and kept his pitch count down."