Post 11 clinches wild playoff series, reaches Area I East finals

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on July 10, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- An undoubtedly wacky playoff series, fittingly, came down to another lucky ending on a wet, humid Wednesday evening.

Guess who benefited.

Wayne County Post 11, of course.

Ryan Faucette scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch and earned his second save in less than 24 hours in a come-from-behind, 9-8 victory over Windsor Post 37 at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex.

Top-seeded Wayne County (13-4-1 overall) completed a three-game sweep of Post 37 and punched its ticket to the Area I East championship series for the third time in the last four years. Post 11 entertains either Pitt County Post 39 or Wilson Post 13 on Sunday at 7 p.m.

"It was one heck of a series all the way around no matter what happened in this game," WC head coach Jason Sherrer. "Their club did not quit, no matter what. They took advantage of every mistake we had. We played three absolutely close games ... good to see our guys battle the entire time regardless of what has already happened in the game."

This one was no different.

Starting right-hander Jackson Hayes labored to consistently find the strike zone, and received little assistance from an error-prone defense. Four infield miscues allowed fifth-seeded Windsor to seize a 4-0 lead through 21/2 innings.

Wayne County committed five errors on the night, but would catch some breaks of its own later in the 3-hour, 30-minute marathon that included a 1-hour rain delay.

"Our defense let us down early," said Sherrer, whose team committed 15 total errors in the three-game series, but also turned five double plays in the final two meetings.

Garrett Joyner mashed a two-run home run -- his second of the series -- in the third inning to break up Darren Armstrong's shutout bid. Faucette singled one out later and eventually scored on a passed ball as thunder rumbled in the distance.

Post 11 knotted the game at 5-5 in the fourth on Ryan Kelly's RBI single and a wild pitch -- one of five thrown by Armstrong. Kelly collected one of Wayne County's playoff-low five hits on the night.

Hayes retired the first batter he faced before rain suspended play.

"That was one of my huge issues," said Sherrer of the break. "Jackson, he was laboring the entire game, didn't have one easy inning and their lead-off batters got on quite a few times. We got out a little unscathed and got a fire under us when Garrett hit that home run.

"We battled with two outs and put some runs on the board, finally tying it in the fourth, which was good."

The wildness continued when play resumed.

Wayne County grabbed its first lead, 6-5, on an infield throwing error. Windsor forged back in front, 7-6, on Armstrong's two-RBI single off of Post 11 reliever Ben Rouse.

Rouse (3-1) settled down, retired eight of the final nine batters he faced and earned his second victory of the postseason.

The dramatics weren't over after the seventh.

Post 11 retook the lead with a three-run, eighth-inning uprising. Joyner plated Kelly with an RBI groundout to knot the game at 7-all. Kevin Williams singled and scored when Post 37's defense committed two throwing errors on Faucette's routine ground ball.

Faucette crossed the plate on back-to-back wild pitches to make it 9-7.

"A wet ball ... plenty of wild pitches that gave us a little bit of a buffer," Sherrer said. "Their kid, I don't know how many pitches he threw, but he was a bulldog and he threw strikes. He was effectively wild ... paint two on the corner, throw one over your head and come right back down, spot it up (in the zone)."

Post 11 reliever Zack Smith yielded a towering, solo home run to Jack Downum with one out in the ninth. He walked the next batter and gave up a single before Sherrer called Faucette to the mound.

Faucette struck out the first batter, issued a walk and retired Lawrence Smith with a series-clinching strikeout.