GOLDEN LEAF INVITATIONAL: Warriors listen to Fulghum's 'speech'

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 30, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

WILSON -- An uninspired performance against West Carteret on Monday afternoon led to about a 15-minute lecture by Eastern Wayne head coach Jabo Fulghum outside the locker room at historic Fleming Stadium.

Fulghum talked about effort, aggressiveness, intensity.

His speech certainly didn't fall on deaf ears.

Eastern Wayne got a sterling pitching effort from Tanner Wells and cranked out 11 hits on day three of the Golden Leaf Invitational contested at Gilbert Ferrell Field on the Wilson Fike campus Tuesday afternoon.

The Warriors fashioned Invitational play 2-1.

"We had more 'want to' today, that was a big plus," Fulghum said. "The dugout was lively and I was proud of them for that. Sometimes, on that day third day, you can kind of have a flop. They responded."

Trailing 1-0 through 21/2 innings, the Warriors swung the sticks in the third inning. Cole Steiner connected on a lead-off double and scored on Devonte Corum's fielder's choice that the Rockets' defense booted as it attempted to turn a double play.

Lee Daniels plated Michael Wiggins, who legged out an infield single. Corum, who earned a spot on the Invitational's all-tournament team, crossed the plate on Wells' sacrifice fly to left field.

Corum's RBI triple and two Person errors led to a three-run, fourth inning that extended the Warriors' lead to 6-1.

"We were a little more aggressive at the plate," Fulghum said. "We got on the bases. We've got some speed, but we haven't been able to use it because we put ourselves in hole. When we had runners in scoring position, we hit the ball.

"I think that was our best thing today."

An Invitational all-tournament pick, Wells limited the Rockets (3-10 overall) to one hit and logged eight strikeouts in 32/3 innings of work. With his pitch count elevated, Fulghum brought in Zack Smith, who threw the final 31/3 innings and posted three strikeouts.

The duo surrendered five unearned runs.

"I thought Tanner looked good," Fulghum said. "He gave out of gas, was about at 70 pitches. Zack came in and looked good. (We) kind of coasted a little bit. They pitched well ... not complaining about that at all. (But) our defense didn't play the best in the world today."

Neither did Person.

The teams combined for 12 errors that led to 14 unearned runs.

Seven of nine Warriors in the starting lineup provided at least one hit. Corum emerged as the RBI leader with two. KK Best and Carlyle Smith each had a stolen base.

Eastern Wayne (9-3 overall) returns to action next Tuesday at Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference foe D.H. Conley.