LEGION: Post 11 drops Game 1 in Area I East Division finals

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 14, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

WINTERVILLE -- T-shirts drenched in sweat and their white pants coated with the red infield dirt from diving for loose balls, Wayne County Post 11 exited the dugout -- perhaps -- a little weary Wednesday evening.

Frustrated was more like it.

Wayne County let a close ballgame drop from its glove, but head coach Jason Sherrer said "the series is very winnable, nothing is out of reach" after a 9-8 loss to Pitt County Post 39 in Game 1 of the Area I East Division championship series.

Game 2 is today at Scarborough Field on the University of Mount Olive campus. First pitch is 7 p.m.

"Down one game in a five-game series is OK," Sherrer said as he removed his cap and wiped the sweat from his brow with his shirt sleeve.

"We'll bounce back tomorrow, hopefully play some defense and keep swinging (the bats) like we are."

Each team, indeed, swung the stick on a muggy night where routine fly balls bounced off the outfield walls and led to extra bases on the Minges-Overton Field diamond. The teams combined for eight extra-base hits and 17 runs -- 16 of which were earned.

Logan Simmons collected the save with four innings of four-hit, two-strikeout relief. The side-winding right-hander limited second-seeded Wayne County (17-8 overall) to a seventh-inning unearned run and retired nine of the final 11 batters he faced.

Post 11 finished 4 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

"He did his job," Sherrer said of Simmons. "He threw one pitch and we chased it. Those type guys come in to get ground balls, and he did that. We had opportunities to score and we didn't. When you play a good team like Pitt, chances are you're not going to win when you don't capitalize (on opportunities)."

Wayne County bolted ahead 5-1 with a three-run, third-inning outburst. Post 11 manufactured its offense off two walks, Carlyle Smith's double, JP Peacock's RBI sacrifice fly and Mason Watt's RBI groundout.

Smith concluded the night 2-for-5 with two RBI.

Post 39 retaliated with a five-run outburst, capped by Darius Nobles' line-drive home run over the left center-field fence. Steven Edmundson dropped a Texas-bleeder, two-RBI single just behind third base against lanky Post 11 right-hander Nick Neal.

PC moved in front 6-5.

"I probably left Nick out there a little too long," Sherrer said. "He started to leave the ball up, but it was his game and he was throwing fine. The kid (Nobles) put a good swing on it. The ball was flying today and it happened to go out."

Neal earned a no-decision in three-plus innings of work on the bump. Josh Jernigan (1-1) took the pitching loss during his 4 1/3 innings in relief.

Derek Neal pushed Wayne County back in front, 7-6, on a two-RBI single into left center. Post 11 didn't score again until the seventh and stranded four runners in scoring position after Neal's second hit of the night.

Top-seeded Pitt County (19-5) scored two in its half of the fifth and one in the sixth for a 9-7 advantage.

"We've got to have shutdown innings," Sherrer said. "We were still in it. I thought we were in a position to win. I thought we played well enough to win. (And) it's something to look forward to coming back tomorrow."