Wayne County Bobcats remain unbeaten in Cooperstown

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 31, 2007 1:47 PM

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From staff reports

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Despite its busy day of activity, the Wayne County Bobcats 12U baseball team remained unbeaten during weekly tournament play at the Cooperstown Dreamspark.

Wayne County started its day with a 17-0 shelling of the Arlington (Ill.) Thoroughbreds. The team took an afternoon trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame and capped the day with a nail-biting, 4-3 victory over the Atkinson (N.H.) Bulldogs.

"Our bats weren't quite as hot, but we squeezed one out tonight," said Bobcats coach Chad Pate. "It's been a good showing for county so far and I hope it keeps going."

The Bobcats (4-0 overall) and Bulldogs battled to a scoreless tie after three innings. Atkinson scratched in the fourth, and Wayne County responded with Adam Pate's two-run home run -- his fifth in tournament play. Pate scored Logan Brown, who reached on a single.

Wayne County padded its lead before Atkinson rallied with two runs in the sixth. Zack Harrell claimed the mound victory in relief of starter Dillon Smith, who fanned eight Bulldog batters in four innings of work.

Greg Johnson, Reid Howell and Justin Lee each contributed a base hit in the one-run triumph.

Pate, Smith and Brown each slugged a homer during the Arlington rout. Smith concluded the day 4-for-4. Pate, Brown, Johnson and Jacob Sasser provided two hits apiece.

Howell, Lee and Josh Edwards each recorded a hit. Howell, Edwards and Taylor Raynor all saw action on the mound.

Wayne County continued pool play today with contests against the Pickering (Canada) Red Sox at 11 a.m. and the Chester County (Pa.) Crawdads at 4:30 p.m.