ECBL: Wayne Country Day cruises past Wilson Christian

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on May 27, 2016 1:48 PM

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bdavis@newsargus.com

Becoming a better baseball player takes patience, devotion and a love for the sport.

It also requires knocking the mess out the ball and having some fun.

Wayne Country Day School's developmental summer team -- including players from Rosewood and Wayne Christian -- ran away from Eastern Carolina Baseball League rival Wilson Christian, 10-3, with a home run, several steals and some late-inning strikeouts on Thursday evening.

"It's summer," WCDS head coach Michael Taylor said, who started the offseason league three years ago. "We want to give people opportunities to pitch, to hit, to get extra at-bats. You know, to put them in different situations instead of playing normal first base, putting them in the outfield, seeing what they can do."

And they definitely hit the ball.

Wilson Christian knocked it out of the park on the first pitch of the game, but Rosewood's Tanner Bradley followed suit with a home run just before teammate Jack Talton crossed the plate off of a steal.

WCDS led, 3-1, after the first inning.

Wilson Christian sent another ball over the fence and grabbed another run off a walk at the top of the third inning.

Tied at 3-all, Case Kermode and Mitch Turnage slid into home, which distracted the WCDS crowd from the heat.

Jonathan Bryan added a RBI walk for the Chargers after the bases were loaded, and Turnage stepped to the plate and delivered the ball to center field, bringing home Ryan Hopes and Boone Moody.

The fun halted for a moment.

WCDS' Amane Godo connected on a straight shot toward center field, but the ball slammed against Wilson Christian pitcher Davis Stone's shin. The pitcher fell to the ground, in pain, but eventually walked it off as he retired to the dugout.

The Chargers reached 10 runs in the fourth inning, but it was time for the pitchers to show what they could do.

Holden Foster allowed a hit and walk after his first throws at the top of the fifth. He allowed one more hit before his lone strikeout.

Bryan stood on the rubber in the sixth inning and fired two strikeouts early in the inning and leaned on his defense for the third out.

Zach Barfield replaced Bryan in the seventh, and the relief pitcher sent concern throughout the fans who hoped for a quick final inning. Barfield allowed two walks after Wilson Christian picked up two outs -- and two bases. Barfield focused on the hitter and threw three strikes in a row to end the game.

"Jon Bryan and Zach were just now on the mound," Taylor said. "John threw one inning all year, Zach didn't play any innings on the year. I'm losing some pitchers (to graduation) this upcoming year. We got to develop some more guys on the mound.

"It can be a challenge at times, but in the long run it's all going to work out."

Wayne Country Day (2-0 overall) travels to Charles B. Aycock Blue next Tuesday.