Area I East finals: Post 11 drops Game 1 to Wilson Post 13

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on July 15, 2015 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- Wayne County Post 11's postseason winning streak is over.

For the first time in the Area I East Division playoffs, Post 11 fell into a hole it couldn't climb out of and dropped a 4-3, 11-inning loss to Wilson County in Game 1 of the best-of-five championship series Tuesday evening.

"It's always good to get the first game of the series under your belt, and we didn't do that," Wayne County head coach Jason Sherrer said. "They beat us, they played better than we did and a couple things went their way as far as timely hitting, and not our way."

Jacob Sanford got the start on the mound for Wayne County. Sanford allowed two first-inning hits, struck out two, walked one and kept Post 13 off the board through five innings.

Jake Naughton took the mound in the sixth.

"I would have loved to (let Sanford throw more)," Sherrer said. "He's going to be gone this weekend to play travel ball, so he was kind of on a pitch limit. We couldn't get around that.

"Would I have liked to keep him in longer? Yes. He pitched great... I just told him 'give me all you've got until you can't,' and that's what it was."

Naughton, who's been one of Wayne County's most durable and reliable pitchers throughout the season, got off to a rocky start. After walking Wilson lead-off batter Charlie Vaughn to start the inning, Naughton allowed a single to Jarret Mobley before first baseman Spencer Brickhouse took him deep for a three-run home run over the center-field fence.

Naughton settled down after that, giving up one run -- BJ Daniels' game-winning RBI single in the 11th.

It was Wilson's fourth straight playoff win.

"It's pretty big," Wilson head coach Rusty Dail said. "Game one is always important... we've got a long way to go, though. We were down 2-0 to Kinston last series and had to battle back.

"That team over there (Wayne County) is capable of doing the same thing."

Having played a game every day for the last five days, the Wilson bullpen got some much-needed rest Tuesday night. Starting pitcher Blake Helms went nine innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. Helms also struck out eight and walked three.

"Everybody is a little bit tired," Dail added. "But we'll come out and play tomorrow like it's 0-0 and see what happens."

Wayne County (18-6 overall) just didn't have the offense to mount yet another come-from-behind victory. It managed just three runs and stranded eight men on base, including three in the bottom of the 11th.

Bobby Hampton, Kevin Williams, and Zack Smith all had RBIs in the loss.

Sherrer hopes that the loss might light a fire under his team.

"It's one of those things where you'll never know until it happens, and we lost so there's only one way to go," he said. "We need to take care of our business tomorrow."

Game 2 is tonight at Fleming Stadium.