Wayne County Post 11 easily defeated Roanoke Rapids Post 37 three games to zero in a series that lasted from July 2 to July 4 to advance to the North Carolina Area 1 East Championship series of American Legion Baseball.
Game 1Wayne County got off to an excellent start defensively in game one of the series thanks to starting pitcher Casey Culbreth who opened up the top of the first inning by forcing a groundout, a pop out, and then a strikeout. Post 11 then followed up Culbreth’s pitching with some strong offense as Miles Hamm got on base with a walk to start the bottom of the inning, and Wyatt Lassiter then got on base with a single.
With still no outs in the bottom of the inning, Hamm then scored the first run of the game as he stole home to give Post 11 a 1-0 lead. During the same at-bat, Everette Johnson extended their lead to 2-0 as he knocked in Lassiter with an RBI single.
After another scoreless inning on the mound from Culbreth in the top of the second, Wayne County got off to a rough start on offense in the bottom of the inning when Radford groundout and Drew Sweet popped out for two quick outs in the inning. Roanoke Rapids pitcher Brandon Arthur seemed to lose control of the strike zone; however, and with two outs and no runners on base, he walked five straight Wayne County batters to give them two free runs and allow them to extend their lead to 4-0. Post 11 may have been able to extend their lead even further with the bases still loaded, but Lassiter was tagged out trying to steal home, and the inning came to an end.
In the top of the fourth inning, Roanoke Rapids finally got on the board, and after getting on third with a one-out triple, Michael Lee was knocked home thanks to a Bryce Williams RBI single to make the score 4-1. After allowing a walk to put runners on first and second, Culbreth quickly took over in the inning though, and he earned back-to-back strikeouts to end the top of the fourth.
Hoping to avoid giving Roanoke Rapids a chance to get back in the game, the Post 11 batters came ignited with a new fire in the bottom of the inning, and Hamm got things started with a single. He then advanced to third on a Lassiter single and came home on a Roanoke Rapids error to give his team a 5-1 lead. Later in the inning, Lassiter also came home to score on a sacrifice fly from John McLamb, and Everette Johnson came home to score on an RBI double from Davis Albert which gave Wayne County a 7-1 lead.
Even though Wayne County scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, they would go on to regret that they didn’t score more as later in the inning they loaded bases again with only one out, and they were unable to put up another run as Drew Sweet struck out, and rett Byrd groundout to end the inning.
The missed opportunity by Wayne County seemed to give the Roanoke Rapids team a sense of hope, and in the top of the fifth inning, they came out hitting on all cylinders like Wayne County did the inning before; their first two batters Braxton Williams and Mari Larry both got on base with back-to-back singles. After a strikeout by Conner Ferebee, Brayden Taylor then hit a two-RBI triple to knock both runners in and cut the Wayne County lead to 7-3. Michael Lee then cut the Wayne County lead even further during the next at-bat as he hit a sacrifice fly to score Taylor to make the score 7-4.
Culbreth, who had been so study through the first four innings of the game, continued to struggle in the fifth inning, and he walked Williams and hit Nike Wiggins with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Hoping to stop the damage, the Wayne County coaching staff decided to make a change on the mound and brought in Colin Woolard to replace Culbreth on the mound. Woolard also seemed to struggle early on into his appearance on the mound though and a pitch of his got past the catcher on a passed ball allowing both runners to advance where they were both knocked in by Noah Cottle on RBI single to cut the Wayne County lead to 7-6. Woolard eventually found his rhythm on the mound though, and he struck out the next batter Michael Gurganus to end the inning.
Woolard eventually proved to be exactly what the Post 11 coach staff was looking for as, although the offense was unable to produce a run in the sixth inning, he shut the door on a Roanoke Rapids comeback with two almost perfect innings in which he allowed just one hit and one walks and no runs to score.
Game 2
After the first game in the series in which both teams had plenty of offense to spare, it looked as if game two was headed for another offensive showdown when, with two outs in the first inning of the game, Wayne County’s Hamm came home to score on a balk by Roanoke Rapids pitcher M. Gurganous. Later in the inning though, with two runners on base, Joseph Buckley hit a single that would have loaded the bases, but Wayne County runner John McLamb tried to come and score from second and was tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
The excellent defensive play by left fielder Mari Larry and catcher Michael Lee seemed to foreshadow the type of game that both teams were getting into, and thanks to a combination of excellent pitching and defense, the score remained at 1-0 in Wayne County’s favor through the five and a half innings. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Roanoke Rapids tied the game up when Maddox Bass, who was the only runner on base, came home to score from third on a wild pitch with two outs to tie the game up at 1-1.
In the top of the seventh, Roanoke Rapids pitcher Zander Mizelle seemed to lose control of the strike zone at the worst time possible. With one out and no runners on base, he walked three straight batters to load the bases. Hoping to keep the game level, the Roanoke Rapids coaching staff decided to make a change on the mound, and they brought in James Donofrio to replace Mizelle. The change did not prove to be an effective one though as the next batter up for Wayne County, Everette Johnson, hit a three-RBI double to clear the bases and give his team a 4-1 lead. McLamb came up to bat next for Wayne County, and he also hit an RBI double to extend their lead to 5-1.
In the bottom of the seventh with only one inning to mount a comeback, Roanoke Rapids got off to a strong start as Noah Cottle got on base due to a Wayne County fielding error, and Bass then singled to put runners at first and second with no outs. The next batter up for Roanoke Rapids, Braxton Williams, ground into a double play though, and even though Cottle came home to score and cut Wayne County’s lead to three, the two quick outs all but ended their comeback chances, and after Mari Larry was hit by a pitch, Ferebee hit a flyout to end the game.
Game 3
In typical Wayne County fashion, Post 11 scored early again in game 3 as after a shutout top of the first inning from G. Byrd, Post 11’s John McLamb hit a two-out RBI double to score Everette Johnson and give them a 1-0 lead.
Just like the last game though, after scoring in the first inning, it took Wayne County a long time to score again. In the top of the fourth inning after earning three straight singles to load the bases, Roanoke Rapids’ Bryce Williams hit a sacrifice fly to score Conner Ferebee and tie the game at 1-1. Later in the inning with two outs, Brayden Taylor also came home to score from third base to give Roanoke Rapids the lead.
When Wayne County needed a run though, they once again found a way to score, and in the bottom of the fourth inning, Davis Albert evened the game up at 2-2 when, with one out, he hit a solo home run over the right field wall.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Post 11’s offense continued to click on all cylinders, and they earned three straight singles with the third coming from Hamm who knocked in Radford to give Wayne County a 3-2 lead. After a then fourth straight single in the inning from Wyatt Lassiter, Everette Johnson hit a bases-clearing three-RBI double to give Wayne County a 6-2 lead in the game. That would also go on to be the final score as Wayne County’s Garrett Byrd continued his excellent performance on the mound in the sixth inning, and Ayden West closed out the game and the series in the seventh.
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