ECBL: Eastern Wayne grounds North Lenoir

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on June 21, 2016 1:48 PM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

North Lenoir slowly dug its talons into Eastern Wayne during their Eastern Carolina Baseball League game Monday evening.

Until the fourth inning. The Warriors' Jacob Ginn smacked a triple that soared over the head of North Lenoir's right fielder.

The triple not only served as Easter Wayne's first hit of the game, but it also kick-started a three-run inning that led to a dominate 10-3 victory.

"We did a pretty decent job on the bases and put some pressure on them," said EW head coach Walker Gourley. "We took some extra (bases) in situations that we could continue to be aggressive. So I was proud of us for keeping our foot on the gas."

Heading into the bottom of the third, North Lenoir led 2-0 and starting pitcher Quentin Pittman had struck out four EW batters.

The results could have been worse for the Warriors.

With two out in the first inning, Hawks' first baseman Ethan May grounded out with the bases loaded. After allowing a run in the bottom of the third inning, North Lenoir began to pay for its mistakes in the bottom of the fourth.

Following the triple by Ginn, Pittman then hit Jason Mitchell and walked Will Uzzell to load the bases. The meltdown prompted the Hawks to switch to reliever Reese Hobbs.

Hobbs struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed an RBI single from Colby Miller. Two more runners scored on a couple of errors.

Suddenly, the Warriors led 4-2.

"We don't do the little things," said North Lenoir head coach Jonathan Davis. "We took the lead playing some small ball, and then all year it's been about the little things -- not executing. It's been our Achilles' Heel all year."

Pittman pitched three innings, walked four batters and allowed four runs.

The Warriors continued to punish the North Lenoir defense by tacking on three runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Miller and Landon Ginn led Eastern Wayne with two hits and two RBI each. Mitchell also had two hits with an RBI double.

Gourley said his team was able overcome the two-run deficit because everyone stayed calm in their approach.

"We concentrated on just trying to win every inning, and I think we did a decent job of that," Gourley said. "We always try to preach about never panicking. We got plenty of outs left and plenty of time to do some damage."