Wayne County-Edenton (Game 2)

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on July 16, 2012 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- One series down.

Next up, Kinston.

Wayne County Post 11 hurler Jeremy Taylor hurled a complete-game five-hitter and Collin DuBose cranked out four hits during a 7-1, series-clinching victory over Edenton Post 40 on a warm, Sunday afternoon at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex.

Post 11 eliminated Post 40 from the Area I East playoffs for the second straight season and fifth time overall since 1992. Wayne County (15-6 overall) entertains nemesis Kinston Post 43 on today in Game 1 of their best-of-three series. First pitch is 7 p.m.

"We played a lot better today ... were ready to go from the get-go and played seven solid innings," said Wayne County assistant coach Jackson Massey, who suffered a harrowing injury Saturday evening at Edenton.

Massey took a line-drive foul ball to the left side of his jaw during early-inning action. He was taken to the hospital, and doctors sewed up two small gashes on the inside and outside of his mouth. Massey returned in the latter stages of the game and sat inside the dugout.

Taylor (4-2) threw 15 first-pitch strikes to 25 batters he faced and didn't issue a walk in Game 2, which was shortened to seven innings in case the teams needed to play an "if" game to determine the series winner. The right-hander yielded a first-inning run and retired 14 consecutive batters before giving up a one-out single to lead-off batter Kendrick Jackson in the sixth.

Edenton, the No. 4 seed from the North Division, collected five hits on the day and concluded the season 8-11 overall.

Wayne County turned in just its second error-free outing of the season. Taylor coaxed Edenton into 17 groundouts and four fly balls -- two each to right fielder Jacob Sasser and center fielder Hunter Barnett. Zack Mozingo recorded 12 putouts at first base.

"Jeremy did a great job overall, locating his fastball and our defense did a great job behind him," Massey said.

DuBose batted 4-for-4, swiped a base and scored twice as Wayne County collected its ninth consecutive postseason victory against an Area I East opponent. Zack Mozingo added two hits and an RBI, while Sasser contributed a hit -- a first-inning two-RBI double that gave Post 11 the lead for good.

Hunter Barnett and Ashton Cox delivered one single apiece. Taylor Brock connected on a second-inning RBI groundout.

"Once we have our approach and stick to it, we're going to have some pretty good at-bats," Massey said. "Brock had a good at-bat. Once we realize that we trust our hands and trust our approach, we're going to put together some good ABs, which leads to some long innings.

"I think we did a good job of handling the bat overall tonight."