Wayne County Post 11 launches 2015 campaign at home tonight

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on May 25, 2015 1:51 PM

• Print
• Email

By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Fourth-year head coach Jason Sherrer might want to have a talk with his Wayne County Post 11 athletic officer about next year's schedule.

Luckily, this one changed.

And he can thank two county teams -- Charles B. Aycock and Spring Creek. Each advanced to the eastern semifinals on Friday, which depleted Post 11's roster for its original home opener Thursday against Wilmington Post 10 -- the 2012 and 2013 state champion.

Games with Morehead City and a road twinbill at Wilmington were also postponed.

So, Wayne County will launch its 2015 campaign at home Monday against Garner, the reigning Area I champion and a state qualifier last season. What could have been a stretch of seven games in eight days has been reduced to four in a five-day period.

Despite the schedule shift, Sherrer is anxious to see what kind of team he can put on the field this season. The 17-player roster has 11 new faces.

"This will give us a chance to see just what kind of players we have for the summer," said Sherrer, who will be assisted by former minor league and Post 11 player Walker Gourley.

"With the teams still in the playoffs, we haven't had a chance to get together as a group, so it will be a good time to play everybody early at different spots and see what we do have talent-specific wise until we get the whole group from (the) high school playoffs."

Just six players return off of last year's team which advanced to the final four of the N.C. Senior American Legion tournament. Of those six, just Coy Barnett saw any significant time on the bump. He threw 20-plus innings on a staff that posted a 3.82 earned run average.

Also back are Kevin Williams, Hank Smitherman, Allen Coor, Zack Smith and Chad Spurgeon. The quintet combined for 180 hits and 71 RBI last season. Wayne County had 276 hits and 151 RBI as a team.

Sherrer and Gourley searched for a core of players who can swing the stick. The duo also looked to acquire an abundant supply of pitchers so that one hurler doesn't get over-used during their 24-game schedule.

Wayne County had 12 different pitchers combine to throw more than 220-plus innings last summer.

UNC Charlotte commit Smith and Williams combined to throw just 141⁄3 innings. Each logged a 1-0 worksheet on the mound. Williams spent this past season at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville. He played mostly infield and saw little time behind the plate.

"As I have always done, I really do my best to look out for the players' arm health," Sherrer said. "With the increase in injury these days especially with the pitchers, I will communicate with them diligently about where they feel they are at that point.

"We will try to manage where we do not over work any one guy too much. Having good pitching is the key to postseason success."

Wayne County has won two of the last four Area I East championships and 11 overall since the mid-1980s. Post 11 has reached the state tournament on four occasions since 2007 and finished runner-up twice -- in 2007 and 2011.

To make a second consecutive appearance, Sherrer said the new players must adjust to exposure against quality competition each game. He hasn't had enough time to identify the team's strong suit, but does expect the returning players to handle the leadership role -- possibly as a unit.

"Setting the precedent of what we expect in our players and how to play game early on in the season will be key in order to allow the guys to gel together," Sherrer said. "They play against each other all season and the faster they realize they are the best of each team on the same team now, the quicker we will have that team camaraderie and success.

"I believe it will be a fun and successful summer."

And a challenging one, too.