Baseball -- CBA gets revenge on NL

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 11, 2004 2:00 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Adam Williams grabbed the pitching chart after the fifth inning and scanned the numbers.

"One hundred pitches," he said. "My arm feels like it."

Williams kept on throwing. The left-hander scattered four hits in a complete-game effort as Charles B. Aycock doubled up North Lenoir 6-3 before a vocal crowd Friday evening.

The Golden Falcons (8-4) seized their third consecutive win and avenged a loss against the Hawks on March 25. Aycock has won three of the past four games in the series with two wins coming at home.

"He's lost two heart-breakers in a row, especially last Friday night giving up one hit against Eastern Wayne," Aycock coach Charles Davis said. "Adam has given me a great outing every time. I didn't think he was quite as sharp as he has been.

"But he gutted it out and made pitches when he had to. It was time for him to come out on top."

North Lenoir coach Jim Montague said Williams pitched a "crafty" game.

Williams (2-2) changed speeds on his change-up and curveball, and kept his fastball outside. When the Hawks started guessing on outside pitches, Williams busted the hitters with inside pitches.

The ploy resulted in nine strikeouts -- an average of more than one per inning. North Lenoir spoiled Williams' no-hit bid with a three-run third inning. However, Montague's team collected just two hits and left six men on base in the final four innings combined.

"We left our bats on our shoulders too much, taking fastballs and not making adjustments," Montague said. "The first time around the pitcher showed where he was going to get us, but he was still getting some of the guys their second and third time up on the same pitch location.

"We've got to have more discipline at the plate. We've got guys who are lunging. When you lunge, you are setting yourself up for off-speed stuff.

Josh Pate provided Aycock with an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. The senior second baseman belted a two-out, three-run home run to right field. Both of Pate's multiple-run homers have been on the Aycock diamond this season.

Philip Cunningham plated Jared Gouty with an RBI groundout in the second to make it 4-0. Montague pulled freshman left-hander Brandon Sutton after the inning ended.

"We knew they liked the fastball," Montague said. "He tried to overthrow his curveball. Once he learns to show these guys (pitches) and keep them off-balanced with different speeds, he's going to be a good ball player.

"You can't come into this ballpark and challenge these hitters because they're going to sit back on you. You've got to keep these hitters off-balanced."

The Golden Falcons collected five of their nine hits against Sutton. Left-handed reliever Dustin Bannister yielded four hits and two runs (one earned) during a four-inning stint.

Pate doubled off Bannister in the fourth and scored on Travis Bartlett's single to left field. That gave Williams a two-run cushion after the Hawks had pulled within 4-3 in their half of the third, which started with Stihl Sowers' solo home run to center field.

Bartlett and Pate combined for four hits on four RBI in five plate appearances.

"I thought we did a great job early in the ball game with our approaches to the plate," Davis said. "We had a little bit of a lull in the middle innings."

Pinch runner Greg Tipton scored the Golden Falcons' final run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning. Five of Aycock's six runs were earned and four were scored with two outs.

Jared Gouty and Nik Pappas each provided two hits, while catcher Bennett Jeffreys contributed a first-inning single. Seven of Aycock's nine starters reached base.

Three batters other than Sowers each had one hit for the Hawks. Josh Williams and Jacob Alphine each contributed an RBI. North Lenoir fell to 8-8 overall and isn't scheduled to play again until April 20 at SouthWest Edgecombe.

"This is something new for a lot of these guys," said Montague, who started three freshmen. "For the first time in their lives, they're being coached the finer points of the game. They've got to apply what they're being taught and once they do that, they're going to be okay."

Aycock returns to action next Wednesday evening at Wilson Beddingfield.

North Lenoir 003 000 0 -- 3 4 1

C.B. Aycock 311 001 x -- 6 9 0

Leading hitters -- C.B. Aycock -- Nik Pappas 2-3; Josh Pate 2-2, 2B, HR, 3 RBI; Travis Bartlett 2-3, RBI; Jared Gouty 2-3, 2B. North Lenoir -- Stihl Sowers 1-3, HR, RBI; Josh Williams 1-4, RBI.

LOB -- North Lenoir 7, C.B. Aycock 5. SH -- Davis. SB -- Ziegler.

IP H R ER BB SO

North Lenoir

Sutton (L, 0-1) 2 5 4 4 1 2

Bannister 4 4 2 1 3 1

C.B. Aycock

Williams (W, 2-2) 7 4 3 3 4 9

WP -- Bannister. HBP -- Manning (by Williams).