Warriors' Smith, Johnson handcuff Bears

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on March 20, 2016 1:47 AM

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NEW BERN -- Zack Smith flirted with a no-hitter for five-plus innings and Eastern Wayne shut out New Bern, 3-0, in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play at Boykin Field on Friday evening.

A University of Charlotte signee, Smith yielded one hit in six innings and struck out six New Bern batters on 79 pitches. The Bears' thwarted his no-hit bid with a two-out base hit to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Brock Johnson threw a tension-filled seventh. The Bears connected on a lead-off triple and the next batter reached on a dropped third strike that got caught underneath the umpire.

"Ryan was looking for the ball everywhere," EW head coach Jabo Fulghum chuckled. "He finally found it, but the throw was too late to first."

Johnson retired the next three Bears on a pop-up and two strikeouts, which evened the Warriors' worksheet at 1-1 in ECC play this season.

"Zack threw the ball extremely well," Fulghum said. "We haven't pitched him a whole lot. We had to get him back in the rotation for the conference. Brock came in and threw the ball extremely well.

"(He was) just a continuation of Zack."

Eastern Wayne (5-2 overall) took a 2-0 lead on RBI walks from Collin Nix and Carlyle Smith in the top half of the first inning. Lee Daniels scored from second base on a wild pitch in the fifth inning.

"It was a great dirt-ball read," Fulghum said.

Smith, Daniels and Tanner Wells each batted 1-for-3.

New Bern (5-1, 1-1 ECC) endured its first loss of the season and played county rival West Craven on Saturday. The Warriors return to action Tuesday at Greene Central.