Wayne County Nationals eliminated

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on July 15, 2007 2:03 AM

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Following Thursday evening's painful loss to New Bern, Wayne County Nationals coach Rod Brown issued a proclamation -- "We'll battle back and win two tomorrow."

Brown's prediction was only half right.

After a dominating 10-0, five-inning victory over Dare County on the second day of the Eastern N.C. Cal Ripken 12U state tournament, the Nationals met their match.

West Raleigh -- which had dismantled the Wayne County Americans 24-1 on Thursday -- turned the trick against the Nationals as it eliminated them with a 12-1, four-inning win at the Eastern Carolina Athletic Park on Friday.

"We were a little tired and flat in this game," said Brown. "They've got a very tough team."

Wayne County actually led the second game 1-0 and was tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the second before West Raleigh erupted. The visitors from the Triangle Area posted 11 runs on the board and grabbed a commanding 12-1 lead.

Graham Edwards provided the big hit -- a three-run homer.

While the second game was disappointing, the first game of the day was a thing of beauty for the Wayne County Nationals.

Starting pitcher Zack Harrell put on a show that impressed his coach and the fans in attendance. Harrell threw five scoreless innings while holding Dare County to a single hit. He struck out four and walked two to pick up the win.

"He definitely pitched great," said Brown. "I was very impressed."

Harrell was in control the second he stepped on the mound as he and his teammates had already taken a 4-0 first-inning lead.

Dylan Smith had belted a two-run homer while Harrell and Ashton Cox provided run scoring hits in the opening inning.

The scoring continued in the second inning when Harrell singled home another run and Ben Roth trotted home on a wild pitch to put Wayne County ahead 6-0.

The lead was 8-0 in the top of the fifth when Jacob Sasser drove home Reed Howell and Logan Brown on a single to make it 10-0.

Harrell finished off the Nationals' lone win in the tournament in style with a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning.

Game 2

Wayne Co. Nationals 420 22 -- 10 10 0

Dare County 000 00 -- 0 1 1

Leading hitters -- Wayne County -- Zack Harrell 2-2, 2 RBI; Logan Brown 2-3; Dylan Smith 1-3, HR, 2 RBI; Ashton Cox 1-2, RBI; Jacob Sasser 1-1, 2 RBI. Dare County -- Tyler Pennington 1-1.

DP -- Wayne County 1, Dare County 1. SB -- Smith 2, Harrell 2, Pate, Roth, Shaw, Lee, Cox. CS -- Howell.

IP H R ER BB SO

Wayne Nationals

Harrell (W) 5 1 0 0 2 4

Dare County

Powers (L) 1/3 4 4 4 1 0

Earley 1 2/3 2 2 2 2 2

Creef 3 4 4 4 4 1

Game 3

Wayne Co. Nationals 100 0 -- 1 1 3

West Raleigh 1(11)0 x -- 12 9 0

Leading hitters -- Wayne County -- Dylan Smith 1-2. West Raleigh -- Brian Fortier 2-3, HR, 3 RBI; Zack Layne 2-2, 2 RBI; Graham Edwards 1-1, HR, 4 RBI.

SB -- Pate, Smith, Layne.

IP H R ER BB SO

Wayne Nationals

Smith (L) 1 2 5 4 1 0

Pate 0 2 4 0 1 0

Cox 1/3 1 2 0 1 0

Edwards 1 2/3 4 1 0 0 0

West Raleigh

Fortier (W) 2 1 1 1 2 1

Braswell 1 0 0 0 0 1

Holt 1 0 0 0 0 0