Post 11 defeats Pitt, wins Area I East regular-season crown

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 30, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Wayne County Post 11 picked the perfect time to play its most-complete game of the season Sunday afternoon.

And it earned two rewards, too.

Greg Johnson and Jackson Hayes combined for a sterling four-hitter as Wayne County seized a 4-2 victory over nemesis Pitt County Post 39. Post 11 clinched the Area I East Division regular-season title outright and the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

"There wasn't much (motivation) to get the guys going, they knew what was on the line and they took care of their business as best they could," third-year WC head coach Jason Sherrer said. "That was the best all-around (game) that we've had all season. A very good team win."

Johnson (4-1) surrendered a pair of second-inning runs, but held Pitt County scoreless the rest of the two-hour affair. Ben Blackwell and Frankie Williamson each had run-producing hits in the second.

Pitt County stranded base runners, including two in scoring position, during the third, fifth and sixth innings. Johnson collected six strikeouts and didn't yield a hit after the second inning.

Post 39 batted 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position in the game.

"I knew that Pitt took the last game from us and did the same thing last year, so I wanted vengeance," Johnson said. "(I) came out here with some grit and got the job done. The team was really behind me, getting a double play early in the game and it was a really good team effort.

"I think everybody wanted the same intensity I had going into it."

Hayes tossed three superb innings of no-hit, two-strikeout relief. The hard-throwing right-hander wiggled out of seventh-inning trouble and retired Post 39 in order in the ninth for his first save of the season.

Post 11 first baseman Zack Smith and catcher Kevin Williams combined for 21 putouts on the day.

"We got the best outing that Johnson has thrown all year and Jackson came in, didn't have any of his normal glitches and threw fine for the time he was in there," Sherrer said.

Wayne County (10-4-1 overall, 8-2 East) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning.

Williams connected on a one-out single to right field and scored on Ryan Faucette's base knock to right-center field. Faucette raced home on Smith's RBI single that Williamson, Post 39's second baseman, tried to glove up the middle.

Faucette scored the game-winning run in the third on a wild pitch. Smith knocked in Williams with a fifth-inning double -- his second hit of the day with a runner in scoring position.

"We got a key hit by Smith," said Sherrer, whose team had just two strikeouts in 30 official at-bats and 38 plate appearances overalls.

"Putting pressure on the defense the entire game, hard ground balls was very good to see and there's not much I have to say to the guys about what we could have done differently."

Wayne County improved to 76-64 all-time against Pitt County.