Golden Falcons benefit from Saints' errors

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 15, 2014 11:12 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- One day after giving an opponent extra scoring chances, Charles B. Aycock aggressively capitalized on a county rival's mistakes Friday evening.

The Golden Falcons pushed across six unearned runs in the third inning and rolled past Southern Wayne, 8-1, on the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference baseball scene.

Aycock snapped the Saints' four-game win streak.

"We actually came out with some intensity," said CBA head coach Charles Davis, whose team committed three costly errors in a two-run loss to Northern Nash just 24 hours earlier.

"Yesterday (Thursday) was not characteristic of us whatsoever. The good thing about yesterday is it was non-conference. The great thing about today is we had a little bit of an attitude adjustment. We feel very fortunate this first week to be 2-0 (in the ECC)."

Southern Wayne (4-3 overall, 0-1 ECC) had managed to overcome defensive mistakes during its four-game win streak.

The Saints bobbled ground balls behind starter Jackson Hayes, and relievers Matt Holland and Garrad Whitfield. The trio combined to give up eight hits in the 1-hour, 55-minute contest.

"Pretty much everything that could wrong in a baseball game today, we did it minus our pitching," first-year SW head coach Jackson Massey said. "Jackson, Matt and Garrad did everything we asked them do and we couldn't make plays behind them. We definitely didn't help ourselves out at the plate any."

Golden Falcons' right-hander Noah West and reliever Kyle Davis combined for a two-hitter and 10 strikeouts. West struck out the side looking in the fifth inning and benefited from an inning-ending double-play grounder in the sixth.

It was West's first start of the season along with catcher Braxton Leeper, who called the game behind the plate. West threw 76 pitches, including 50 strikes to 21 batters.

Davis threw the seventh.

"Efficient," coach Davis said of West.

West (3-for-4) drove in the eventual game-winning run with a two-run home run in the first inning. Ashton McGee, who connected on a sharply-hit single down the first-base line, also scored.

Southern Wayne answered with Josh Jernigan's one-out, RBI single that scored lead-off batter Kevin Williams in the bottom half of the first. However, the Saints put just two more runners in scoring position -- and stranded both -- the remainder of the game.

West didn't allow a hit after the first inning.

"Our approach (at the plate) was really bad, there's no other way to put it," Massey said. "I think whenever we were down seven runs, I don't know if they were trying to get them back in one swing or what. We were taking strikes and swinging at balls."

Aycock claimed its third straight win in the series and 14th overall in 24 meetings since 2004.