Golden Falcons shut out Saints on baseball diamond

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 9, 2014 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- When Charles B. Aycock outfielder Garrett Joyner chased a pitch out of the zone in the fifth inning and fouled it off for strike two, teammate Bobby Hampton walked up to him and told him to be smart and pick a good pitch.

Joyner, and the rest of the Golden Falcons, heeded the advice. Joyner drove the next pitch, a waist-high fastball, back up the middle. The two-out single sparked a seven-run fifth inning and helped push Aycock past Southern Wayne, 9-0, on Tuesday evening.

The big inning was a result of patience in the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference game.

"(Early) we weren't being smart working things deep in the count," Golden Falcons catcher Noah West said. "As the game went on we got a little smarter ourselves and put the ball in play, and did what we needed to do to scratch runs."

West had an RBI single in the Golden Falcons' big fifth inning, and added a solo home run over the center field wall in the sixth.

C.B. Aycock struggled to get anything going before the fifth inning. The Golden Falcons scored an unearned run, but failed to take advantage of getting the lead-off man on base twice.

It's a problem coach Charles Davis has noticed all season, but has recognized his team's improvement at capitalizing on opportunities. The fifth inning proved it.

"We were a little more patient at the plate in that big inning," Davis said. "And as the game wore on we took advantage of opportunities and we were able to hit some balls on the nose, which we hadn't done."

Southern Wayne pitcher Kevin Williams threw a gem until the fifth. He surrendered just four hits and no earned runs. His offspeed pitches early baffled Aycock's hitters.

"I thought Kevin Williams did a great job," Davis said. "He was able to throw his offspeed pitches for strikes and that's tough for high school hitters to adjust."

Aycock's Tim Naughton threw six scoreless before being relieved by Kyle Davis. Naughton surrendered two hits and struck out 10.

The Golden Falcons (9-7 overall) put their four-game win streak on the line Thursday and play host to ECC leader J.H. Rose on Friday.

The Saints (4-9, 0-7) entertain New Bern on Thursday.