Shelby pulls away from Wayne County on late home run

By Lexington Dispatch
Published in Sports on July 28, 2014 1:48 PM

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Lexington Dispatch

LEXINGTON -- A somewhat controversial forfeit win against High Point Post 87 kept Shelby Post 82 in the winner's bracket of the North Carolina American Legion state tournament.

Brock Melton's bat put it one more win closer to advancing to the Southeast Regionals.

Melton, who's missed a good chunk of the team's playoff run due to a broken hand, crushed a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning, turning a tense 4-3 lead into a comfortable 8-4 advantage and in doing so sealed Wayne County's fate late Sunday night at Holt-Moffitt Field.

Shelby technically kept its winning streak alive at an astounding 35 games and now faces an extremely quick turning around by facing the Gaston Braves in a 12:30 p.m. matchup today in a battle of the tournament's only remaining unbeaten teams.

"Brock's swing -- huge," said assistant coach Chad Fowler, who was speaking on behalf of Post 82 head coach Mike Grayson.

"We went from a 1-run lead in a close ballgame to a 4-run lead. That was a big, big hit in that situation."

Grayson respectfully declined an interview request from The Dispatch and deferred to Fowler.

And Sunday evening brought some tense moments away from the playing field at Holt-Moffitt. Shelby protested its loss to High Point on Saturday after it was learned the Hi-Toms had used an ineligible player. The state American Legion office denied its protest, but the national office ruled in its favor after Post 82 appealed to a higher authority.

Many of the High Point players, along with Hi-Toms President Greg Suire, were in attendance, still searching for answers as to how exactly their state tournament run and season ended.

"We were just excited to get to the ballpark and play baseball," said Fowler. "Once we got here, we said 'we're just playing ball'. Our kids have had a good head all year. We came out a little shaky at first, but we worked through it."

Wayne County, which also benefitted from High Point's tournament exit, jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the top of third inning. Two Shelby errors in the first inning led to a Wayne County run and then Zack Smith lined an RBI single to center field in the third.

Post 82 answered with two runs in the bottom half of the third to help it settle in. Back-to-back singles by Dustin Jones and Jackson Mims started the rally, but shaky defense by Post 11 certainly helped. A wild pitch by Wayne County starter Jackson Hayes allowed Jones to score the first run.

Then moments later, after two outs were recorded and a walk, which put runners on the corners, Wayne County catcher Kevin Williams tried a snap throw to first base to catch the Shelby runner straying too far from the bag. Williams' throw, however, got away from Smith at first base just long enough to let Mims race in to score.

Mims was again a catalyst in the fifth for Shelby with a one-out double, And again, he trotted home on a wild pitch, which tied the game. Jay Seagle reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth and followed Mims home on an RBI single by Bradley Evans.

"They score their first three runs without putting the ball in play," said Wayne County coach Jason Sherrer. "I really thought Jackson pitched very, very well. It was just one pitch, and their kid turned on it and hit it out."

Wayne County knotted the score at 4-4 in the seventh on a run-scoring double by Williams.

Evans started Shelby's half of the eighth with a double to left and Nick Hastings followed with a single. Evans scored on a one-out fielder's choice, setting the stage for Melton.

Sherrer said he wasn't thinking of lifting Hayes in the eighth, even though his bullpen was ready.

"I felt like Jackson was the best guy for the job," he said. "You know we are one pitch away from being right there in the ball game."

Melton had been 0-for-3 prior to his at bat in the eighth and hadn't gotten the ball out of the infield.

Now Shelby turns its attention to Gaston, which it beat twice within the past week in the Area IV championship series.

Wayne County, meanwhile, plays Wilmington at 3:30 p.m. today in an elimination game.