Wayne County’s 13-game winning streak comes to an end

WINTERVILLE — After some early struggles this season Wayne County found their stride, winning 13-straight games from June 13 to June 28 and winning a conference title along the way; however, their winning streak came to end on Saturday night as they were defeated 7-5 by Pitt County Post 39.

The first run of the game didn’t occur until the top of the fourth inning when, with one out and a runner on base, Wayne County’s J. Buckley launched a two-run homer over the fence to give his team a 2-0 lead.

After holding Post 39 to another scoreless inning in the bottom of the fourth, Wayne County scored again in the top of the fifth inning when, with two outs, pitcher Bailor Peebles (who inherited a bases-loaded situation from pitcher Christian Chance) walked a runner in with two to give Post 11 a 3-0 lead. He then gave up two more runs when he gave up an RBI to Wayne County’s Connor Radford who gave Post 11 a 5-0 lead.

Just when the game looked out of reach though, Pitt County loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning with two walks and single. With the bases loaded, batter M. Hobbs then knocked in the first two runs of the game with an RBI double and cut the Wayne County lead to 5-2.

After another walk by Wayne County’s Erik Rosas, who had now given up three walks against just five batters in the inning, the Post 11 coaching staff decided to make a change on the mound, and they brought in A. West to take over pitching duties. West got off to a difficult start though, and he walked the first batter he faced to make the score 5-3. After striking out the next batter he faced, he then gave up a three-RBI double to Pitt County’s Rooke Knittle who gave his team a 6-5 lead. The next batter up for Post 39: Ray Shaw, also knocked in a run with with an RBI single, and all of sudden, Wayne County was now trailing by two runs.

Wayne County failed to capture the same magic they had at the plate early in the game, and they only managed to get one runner on base in the final two innings. They lost by a final score of 7-5.

Ultimately, the loss won’t have much effect on the outcome of the season for Wayne County though as they still finished with a 22-7 overall record and as the conference champions. Pitt County Post 39 finished the season with an overall record of 9-5 with the win.