Pitt County Classic: Saints snap 11-game skid

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 22, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Southern Wayne tossed aside its frustrating 11-game win streak like a worn-out rag doll on Monday afternoon.

Kevin Williams threw a complete game, Drake Shaw smashed a home run and the Saints dumped Washington, 11-1, in mercy-rule fashion during the Pitt County Classic.

Southern Wayne (5-13 overall) concludes Classic play today against Eastern Plains 2-A Conference members SouthWest Edgecombe and North Pitt. The doubleheader begins at 3:30 p.m. on the North Pitt diamond.

"We finally got over the hump," exclaimed Saints head coach Jackson Massey, whose team pounded out 14 hits and made minimal errors behind Williams on the mound.

"Kevin was commanding the zone and we played really good defense behind him. This is the most-complete game we've played this season -- solid pitching, solid hitting, solid defense."

Williams scattered five hits in an efficient 58-pitch outing and logged just two strikeouts against the Pam Pack. The right-hander threw his second complete game of the spring in a team-leading seven starts.

Williams (two RBI) Shaw, Hunter Barwick (three RBI) and Dallas Graham paced the Saints' offense with two hits apiece. Shaw swatted his two-RBI home run -- the first by any Southern Wayne player this season -- in the third inning.

Graham, Whitfield, Williams and Shaw combined to score nine runs.

"Top to bottom, I think everybody in our starting lineup had a hit except for maybe two guys," said Massey, whose team connected on three extra-base hits, which raised their season total to 17 in 18 games.

"We only had two punchouts (as a team) the whole day. We hit hard ground balls and it benefited us."