Saints endure heart-breaking, season-ending loss

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 18, 2014 12:30 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

WILSON -- Southern Wayne thwarted every challenge Big East tournament champion Wilson Hunt threw at it Friday evening.

Until the 11th inning.

Jacob Williamson connected on a two-out, walk-off single down the third-base line and propelled the Warriors past the Saints, 4-3, in their second-round N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A baseball war at Sid Boyette Field.

"This is about the hardest-fought game I've ever seen," said Saints head coach Jackson Massey, who watched the final 11/2 innings after getting ejected for an unspecified reason.

"They had a few more opportunities to score than we did and luckily we held them off about as well as we could. All you need is that one thing to fall your way and it just didn't happen for us tonight."

The teams combined for 18 hits and 10 errors in the 3-hour, 2-minute marathon. Hunt batted 3 for 10 with men in scoring position and stranded the go-ahead run at second base in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Saints catcher Kevin Williamson caught a runner stealing in the 10th and ended the same inning by picking off another runner who attempted to take third base on a wild pitch.

"They got big outs in big situations and you can do nothing but tip your hat," Hunt head coach Jon Smith said. "As long as we're playing hard, I can live with mistakes. We feel fortunate to move on."

Southern Wayne posted the game's first run on Dallas Graham's two-out, fielder's choice RBI in the top half of the first.

Hunt scored the next three runs.

The Warriors (15-10 overall) tied the game at 1-1 on John Winslow's two-out single in the second inning. An infield error extended Hunt's third inning and led to a pair of unearned runs, including an RBI double by Colton Griffin.

The Saints responded in their next at-bat.

Josh Jernigan, Graham and Hunter Barwick loaded the bases on consecutive singles. With one out, Garrad Whitfield pushed Jernigan across on a single to left field.

Hunt's left fielder attempted to make a sliding catch on the dying base knock, and the ball got behind him. Graham scored for the 3-3 tie.

Neither team scored again as each team's respective bullpen heated up and staged a classic pitcher's duel for the next six-plus innings. Saints relievers Jackson Hayes and Jacob Hollingsworth combined for 52/3 innings of five-hit, eight-strikeout relief.

The Warriors' trio of Caleb Sharp, Griffin and Hunter Hackett were just as effective. They yielded just three hits and combined for 10 strikeouts, including nine by Griffin, who worked nearly five innings.

"Whenever we answered, our bats went cold," Massey said. "(Give) credit to the Griffin kid, he's good and definitely put us on our heels a little bit and controlled the game when he was in there. We just couldn't find that one key hit or one key base runner to get things going for us."

Hunt finally did in the 11th.

Hollingsworth retired the first two batters he faced before Bryson Worrell legged out an infield single. Andrew Brinson drew a walk, which set the table for Williamson's game-ending heroics.

"This is a game that everybody is going to remember, that's for sure," Massey said. "I think our guys deserve it (the win). We were playing really good at the right time, but that's the way baseball is sometimes."