Post 13 flops in regular-season finale at Wayne County

GOLDSBORO — The Wilson American Legion baseball regular season ended Friday night with a 12-9 loss to Wayne County Post 11 that was a bit like Post 13’s season.

Wilson finished 14-8 overall and 5-5 in Area I East Division play with its third loss in a row and fourth in the last five games after one of its best starts in years. Now Post 13, which finished fourth in the East Division, must regroup quickly for the start of the North Carolina American Legion playoffs. In the East semifinals series, Wilson will face No. 2-seeded Pitt County Post 39 (10-5, 8-1) in the first game of a best-of-five first-round playoff series Tuesday in Winterville.

Wayne County, the top seed, will host No. 4 Roanoke Post 37 in the other East first-round series. Kinston Post 43 and Ahoskie Post 102 did not qualify for the postseason.

Wilson beat Wayne County twice in nonconference games early in the season, part of a 6-1 start for Post 13, but dropped the two that counted in division play. Post 13 got off to a great start in Friday’s game at C35 Baseball Complex, scoring two in the first inning and adding five more in the second. Wilson led 9-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning but Wayne jumped back in it with four runs then added one in the fifth and five more in the sixth to complete the comeback.

Reliever Mason Sasser, who took over for starter Gage Lockhart in the fourth inning, took the loss after giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings.

Wilson jumped ahead in the first inning after left fielder Nick Worrell and Lockhart drew back-to-back one-out walks and Peyton Clay doubled them in. Post 13 scored all five of its runs in the second inning after the first two hitters were retired.

Adyn Gooding walked and scored on shortstop J.D. Graziani’s double to start the onslaught before a Wayne County error and Lockhart’s RBI single off Post 11 starter Garrett Byrd made it 4-1. Three more walks and a hit batter later and Wilson led 7-1.

Post 13’s final two runs in the fourth came on Landon Coleman’s double to score Lockhart, who reached on an error, and Clay, who singled as part of his 2-for-2 night with two RBIs. Coleman drove in three runs on the night.

Wayne Country rallied in the sixth behind three walks and left fielder John McLamb’s RBI double as well as second baseman Connor Radford’s single.

Wilson pitchers walked 11 batters but Post 13 hitters took nine free passes. Each team had one player hit by a pitch and stranded eight runners on base.

Score by innings:

Post 13 250 200 0 — 9

Post 11 101 415 x — 12

W-Colin Woolard 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 SO. L-Mason Sasser 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO.

LEADING HITTERS — Wilson: Gage Lockhart 1-2, R, RBI; Peyton Clay 2-2, 2B, 2 RBIs; Landon Coleman 1-3, 2B, 3 RBIs; J.D. Graziani 1-4, 2B, RBI. Wayne County: Wyatt Lassiter 1-4, 2 R, 2 RBIs; Davis Albert 1-3, 2 R, RBI; Everett Johnson 2-3, 2 RBIs; John McLamb 1-3, R, 2 RBIs; Tyler Sweet 1-2, 2B, 2 R.

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