LEGION: Wayne County takes playoff opener against Post 13

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 11, 2016 1:48 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Lance Wise toed the rubber, covered his face with his glove, got the signal from catcher Derek Neal and fired toward the plate.

Strike.

The knee-level toss painted the outside corner and turned into a confidence booster for the rising junior at Southern Wayne. Wise controlled the count, kept Wilson Post 13's batters guessing and avenged his lone loss from eight days ago.

Wise yielded eight hits in six-plus innings of work as Wayne County Post 11 prevailed 11-5 in Game 1 of their Area I East Division semifinal-round series Friday evening.

The teams played Game 2 at Wilson on Saturday.

Game 3 in the best-of-five set is today at 7 p.m. at Scarborough Field on the University of Mount Olive campus.

An eight-day rest refreshed Wise and his teammates.

"We were just ready to go and excited to play," Wise said. "We came out and just had fun. My goal was to get ahead in the count and let my defense work. I was trying to get the first pitch across."

During one stretch, Wise threw first-pitch strikes to 12 consecutive batters. He walked two and permitted five runs (two earned) on 90 pitches.

Wise faced a little adversity when Wayne County committed three errors combined in the third and fourth innings. Wilson pushed across three unearned runs to create a 4-4 deadlock.

Wise stayed relaxed.

"Everybody makes errors, but I knew they had me with the bat because we were hitting the ball good," Wise said.

Indeed.

Clean-up hitter Chad Spurgeon and Josh Jernigan combined for six of Wayne County's 11 hits against Post 13's duo of starter Dylan Radford and reliever Neal Lewis.

Zack Smith, who has entered summer school at the University of Charlotte, scored the go-ahead -- and eventual game-deciding run -- on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth. Jernigan plated Spurgeon, who doubled, to make it 6-4.

Spurgeon finished 3-for-5 with two RBI.

"We've been talking ... Spurge and I a little bit about hitting," Wayne County head coach Jason Sherrer said. "His is just a feel thing (at the plate) coming back from college and not playing in a while. His timing is down fine now and he's seeing the ball well.

"He's always been a gamer for me. It's good to see (tonight) happen."

Second-seeded Wayne County (15-7 overall) posted a back-breaking four runs in the sixth and added a single run in the eighth. Wise departed the mound in the seventh and Smith provided 2 2/3 innings of two-hit, one-strikeout relief.

Sherrer said Wise (4-1) helped save the bullpen for what could be a grind-it-out series against Wilson, which had just nine players for the game.

"(Lance had) a great outing ... has put us in good position," Sherrer said. "He's pitched well twice back-to-back now."

Six starters logged at least one hit apiece as Wayne County snapped a five-game skid against third-seeded Wilson (12-7) in the postseason. Post 13 eliminated Post 11 in the Area I East championship series a year ago and earned a two-game, opening-round playoff sweep in 2010.