Pitt County Classic: Saints claim 10-inning thriller after loss to SW Edgecombe

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 23, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

BETHEL -- The baseball gods, on rare occasions, change allegiances during a game.

They certainly shined on Southern Wayne at the perfect time Tuesday evening.

No-hit through five innings and their confidence disappearing during every at-bat, the Saints got one break ... then another ... then another.

Five innings and nearly two hit hours later, Southern Wayne concluded final-day play in the Pitt County Classic with a 7-3, 10-inning victory over North Pitt on its home diamond.

"Up until about the sixth inning, including that first game (a loss), we weren't having anything fall (in our favor) and those teams were having a lot of stuff fall," first-year SW head coach Jackson Massey said.

North Pitt right-hander Collin Brinkley retired the first 15 Southern Wayne batters he faced. He coaxed the Saints five groundouts, four infield pop-ups and logged seven strikeouts.

Brinkley reached a full count on one occasion.

The Panthers built a 3-0 lead on five hits against Saints right-hander Jackson Hayes, who eventually threw 117 pitches in nine innings.

"We really didn't have good plate appearances, didn't have our head in the game to start off with, but towards the end we found it, battled back and came out on top," Williams said.

It all started in the sixth.

Pinch-hitter Matt Holland legged out an infield single, which broke up Brinkley's perfect-game bid. The Panthers' defense miscommunicated on a fielder's choice and Chris Reedy singled to load the bases.

Brinkley issued consecutive RBI walks to Williams and Drake Shaw, which closed the gap to 3-2. Josh Jernigan's sacrifice fly to deep center field plated Reedy and knotted the contest at 3-3.

Hayes continued to get stronger and retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced. The Panthers stranded the eventual game-winning runs at third base in the sixth and eighth innings.

"I've gotten used to performing when the offense hasn't really been there this year and we've had to overcome some things," said Hayes, who posted eight strikeouts and benefited from great defensive plays turned in by right fielder Garrad Whitfield, and center fielder Dallas Graham.

"I was getting stronger (late in the game). I just focused ... was in my zone. Curveball, fastball, changeup ... everything was going good tonight."

Deadlocked at 3-3 after nine innings, Reedy started the Saints' 10th with a lead-off single. Williams executed a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line, and slipped by the defender's tag.

Reedy took third on the overthrow.

"No sir, he did not tag me ... nope," a grinning Williams said. "I thought 'oh yeah, we're for sure winning now. We had them right there and I knew it was over."

Over, indeed.

Shaw drove home Reedy with a sharply-hit single down the third-base line. Williams' scored on Jernigan's second sac fly of the night, and Jacob Hollingsworth plated Shaw with single that dropped into shallow right field.

Graham scored the final run on Whitfield's single -- his lone hit of the game and third of the day overall.

D.J. Skinner threw a scoreless 10th for the save and gave Southern Wayne (6-14 overall) its second win in a 24-hour period.

The comeback erased a less-than-stellar effort against SouthWest Edgecombe, which used a five-run second inning as the springboard to an 8-6 win.

"We challenged them at the end of the first game," Massey said. "They started out a little sluggish (against North Pitt). That pitching for them was throwing his tail off, but we made some adjustments at the plate.

"We had a bloop here, a bloop here."

And a little help from the baseball Gods, too.