Post 11 wins in walk-off fashion

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on July 27, 2014 1:50 AM

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BY MIKE DUPREZ

The Dispatch

 

Holt-Moffitt Field doesn't have a roller coaster but Wayne County must have felt like they were on one Saturday.

Considering how it turned out, they'll take it.

Logan Miller's two-out single brought home pinch runner Ryan Kelly with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as Wayne County claimed a dramatic 8-7 victory over Hope Mills in an elimination game of the American Legion state tournament.

Indeed, it was quite a ride.

Wayne County (17-8-1) stormed to a 7-0 lead after two innings only to see Hope Mills (19-6) come all the way back.

"That's exactly what it was, a roller coaster," said Wayne County coach Jason Sherrer. "We put a bunch on them early and then absolutely coasted. We allowed them back in the game and they got some very good at-bats. Luckily, we pulled it out in the end. It was a fun game."

Wayne County will play the Shelby-High Point loser at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Hope Mills ended the season with a 19-6 record.

"The kids played hard," said Hope Mills coach Doug Watts. "We had a great summer. We won 21 ball games. I think everybody we had improved. That's what it's for. We want to send them to the next level."

Ben Rouse, who was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, started the winning rally with a one-out single. That was the last batter for Hope Mills reliever Logan Haines, who was superb for 6 2/3 innings and ended up with an unlucky loss. Trey Davis came on in relief of Haines and yielded an infield single to Allen Coor as Kelly moved to second. Hank Smitherman flied out but Miller lined a 3-2 pitch -- the eighth pitch of the at-bat -- for a single, scoring Kelly with the winning run.

"I knew we were in a situation where we needed a good hit," Miller said. "I was waiting on my pitch, it was a full count. It was a perfect pitch."

It also triggered a boisterous celebration spiced with perhaps just a touch of relief.

"I didn't expect that at all in the beginning," Miller said. "We were hitting good and then we just stopped hitting in the middle of the game and we finally got some hits at the end of the game."

Wayne County got eight hits in the first two innings, scoring three times in the first and four in the second off Hope Mills starter Seth Reeves. Ryan Faucette, who got the win in relief, led the way with a run-scoring double in the first and a two-run homer in the second. Faucette ended up 3-for-4 with the homer and two doubles. Rouse had an RBI single in both innings.

Hope Mills finally broke through for a run off Wayne County starter Greg Johnson in the fifth and a second run in the seventh on a dropped pop fly.

But then Hope Mills sent 10 men to the plate in the eighth, scoring five runs on four hits and three errors. Watts felt they should have had another, too, as Andrew Hendrickson was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a grounder by Justin Huggins.

"The man that was called out at the plate, the catcher stepped on his left hand," Watts said. "He touched the base with his right hand. He said the catcher hadn't touched him yet."

And Wayne County got to spend at least one more night in Lexington.

"We look forward to another game," Sherrer said. "We'll see where we go from there."

Notes: Austin Warren and Hendrickson all had two hits for Hope Mills. ... Chad Spurgeon had three hits for Wayne County and Miller had a pair.