West belts pair of homers, CBA advances in 3A baseball playoffs

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 15, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- An old-school baseball coach, Charles Davis prefers to see his team produce runs in a traditional manner.

But he doesn't mind the long ball, either.

Noah West mashed a pair of early-inning home runs and Jacob Naughton went yard during Charles B. Aycock's opening-round, 9-1 victory over Corinth-Holders in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A playoffs on Wednesday evening.

The Golden Falcons (16-9 overall) entertain West Brunswick at 5 p.m. Saturday on the Charles Davis Field diamond. It's a rematch of their 2011 postseason game won by Aycock, which finished state runner-up that year.

"It was a complete game all around," Davis said. "We pitched well, hit well in spots, got our bunts down, played defense. It was finally good to see us put those three phases together at this point in the season.

"Of course, the playoffs are all about surviving, no matter how you do it."

The Pirates (10-12) drew consecutive one-out walks during the first inning, but couldn't push anything across the plate. Golden Falcons lefty Bobby Hampton retired the next 10 batters he faced and didn't allow another base runner until the fourth.

Aycock led 3-0 by then on West's long-distance shots that landed in the trees in left-center field. West stroked a two-run bomb in the first inning and after seeing a first-pitch curveball in the third, he went deep again for his team-leading fifth home run of the season.

West leads the team in hits (29) and RBI (20).

"Noah set the tone ... big two-run homer," Davis said. "That kind of relaxed our kids a little bit. He didn't miss those pitches. Noah's not like a lot of hitters who go up there thinking.

"He is very simple ... see the ball, hit the ball."

Hampton preserved the 3-0 advantage and got additional run support in the fourth. Naughton connected on a lead-off double into left field, and scored when Hank Smitherman singled and induced a throwing error from the Pirates' infield.

Aycock manufactured its final two runs on a sacrifice bunt that moved Smitherman into scoring position at third, and three consecutive hits. Smitherman scored on a wild pitch.

Lead-off batter Garrett Joyner (2-for-3) trotted home on West's base knock up the middle. That made it 6-0 until Naughton connected on his first homer of the season -- a two-run shot in the fifth.

Corinth-Holders center fielder Bobby Beare tracked Naughton's ball and appeared to catch it as he crashed into the fence. But Beare slapped his empty glove in disgust as the infield umpire signaled home run.

"We thought our center fielder had that one against the fence," first-year Corinth-Holders head coach Adam Weaver said. "I think he might have caught it and threw it over, I really don't know what happened. That one was like 'OK, we know it's going to be that type of night.'"

Hampton and Tim Naughton held Corinth-Holders hitless until Jake Lewis mashed a sixth-inning, solo home run. Hampton (6-3) and Naughton combined for 10 strikeouts.