Wayne County eliminates West Raleigh

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 17, 2011 1:50 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Lloyd Lowe caught the hitting bug.

His teammates did, too.

Lowe's lead-off single sparked a fourth-inning offensive outburst, and Wayne County dumped West Raleigh, 9-2, in their 2011 Eastern N.C. Babe Ruth 13-year-old state tournament contest Saturday afternoon.

Wayne County continues elimination-round play today against New Bern. First pitch is 4 p.m. at Charles B. Aycock High School.

Lowe concluded the day 2-for-2 with an RBI. Ryan Warren batted 4-for-4 with three RBI and lead-off hitter Allen Coor logged a 3-for-3, two-RBI worksheet.

"We played good baseball (today)," said Wayne County head coach Jeff Smith, whose team collected 12 hits. "We did the little things right. We hit the ball fairly well, not as good as we did last night (Friday), but hey, this win ... I'll take it any time."

Lowe made a pinch-hit appearance in the fourth inning for starter Kyle Davis, who tore a contact in one of his eyes. He moved into scoring position on Jacob Dubose's sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Kyler Bradley's base knock.

"It just rolled from there," said Smith.

Indeed.

Wayne County sent 12 batters to the plate and turned a 2-2 deadlock into a comfortable 9-2 cushion. Coor rapped a two-RBI double into right-center field. Trent Herndon connected on a fielder's choice RBI grounder, and Warren crushed a one-strike double into right-center field to score two more runs.

Dylan Harrison, Ethan Chapin and Lowe also contributed key hits during the game-changing surge.

"We just started hitting and everything worked well," said Smith.

Dubose worked 3 1/3 innings and claimed the mound win. The right-hander yielded a second-inning, RBI single to Sam Minier, which turned out to be West Raleigh's lone hit of the game.

Caleb Smith supplied 3 2/3 innings of no-hit, scoreless relief. The duo combined to retire nine of 10 batters during one stretch, and Smith induced an inning-ending double play in the fourth.

West Raleigh had just seven base runners on the day.

"It's an asset having so many pitchers," said coach Smith. "My pitchers hit their spots, pitching where I'm calling, then we have a lot of success. When you're playing baseball, it all boils down to pitching."

And hitting on this day, too.