East 3A baseball regionals: Aycock beats Lee County, 4-0, in opener

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on May 28, 2015 1:46 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE - The rain turtle has powerful effects.

During a previous game against county rival Eastern Wayne that was in the midst of a rain delay, the C.B. Aycock baseball team drew the outline of a turtle in the dugout dirt with one of their bats, hoping it would bring them sun.

Last night, again in the middle of waiting out a spring storm, the players started messing around and decided to bring the turtle back.

Not long after, the skies cleared, the players took the field, and the messing around was over.

After waiting close to 90 minutes to start their best-of-three N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A eastern regional baseball series against Lee County, the Golden Falcons came out strong and played tactically during a 4-0 victory in front of a packed and rowdy -- plus wet -- crowd at Charles Davis Field.

"I just didn't say a word to them," Aycock head coach Charles Davis said about the rain delay. "I just let them be teenagers and not get so caught up in the moment. I thought we did a good job of keeping our focus once we knew that we were going to play."

The passing storm slowed down, soaking the field and the fans. Aycock pitcher Bobby Hampton wasn't thrown out of whack by the long delay.

"We didn't know if we were going to play, no one was telling us yet," he said. "So we kind of had the mentality of getting ready, but at the same time we were all just having a good time. We had some friends in here that graduated a couple of years ago and we were talking to them, reminiscing on good times.

"Since I was starting, I was a little stressed out. If I wasn't pitching, I would have been a little more relaxed."

Hampton didn't show any rust after the hour-and-a-half wait. The senior surrendered four hits, walked one and struck out 13 in the complete-game shutout. Seven the final nine Lee County batters struck out against the left-hander.

"The strikeouts are always good and all, but I'm just glad we got the win," Hampton said. "This late in the season, playing for the eastern regional (championship) and the chance to go to the state championship, I don't care if I gave up 10 runs and they were all bombs if we got 11."

It was Hampton's third complete game of the playoffs.

"I asked him at the end of the sixth inning how he felt, and of course Bobby said 'I'm good, I'm ready to go'", Davis said. "It was a hot, humid night and we all sat around for a while. He's drained, we're all drained, but he threw the ball well tonight."

Offensively, the Golden Falcons got RBI efforts from Hank Smitherman, Chandler Matthews and Bryce Anders.

The teams continue the series today at Lee County. Game time is 7 p.m. Aycock senior Jacob Naughton will take the mound.

"The thing about it now is, we have to win one," Davis said. "They have to win two. I like our chances right there. Jake's on the mound for us... I consider both Jake and Bobby our number one and we'll go over there tomorrow night and see what happens."