Aycock erases late-inning deficit against Saints

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on April 20, 2016 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Crazy things happen in the world of high school baseball, but Charles B. Aycock head coach Charles Davis witnessed something for the first time in his 26-year tenure at the school.

"I've seen some things," Davis said, whose team fought back from a three-run deficit in the fifth inning to defeat Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference archrival Southern Wayne, 7-6, on Tuesday evening.

"The one thing I will say, Chandler Matthews came in and did a great job for us on the mound. He gave us a chance to win, and we finally started...having our hitters to take pitches and making their (Saints) pitchers throw a little bit more and a little bit more."

That wasn't the case for the Golden Falcons in the early innings.

CBA committed three errors in the top of the first inning, allowing SW to jump to a 3-0 lead. Senior Jacob Sanford threw three strikeouts in the first two innings. But the Saints' Carter Jones ran home off of a hit from senior Tyler Brock to give Southern Wayne a 4-0 after 1 1/2 innings.

Senior Mason Watt hit a line drive to second base and secured a position at first. He brought in senior Cameron Kornegay, but CBA had a long road ahead.

The third inning flew by quickly, with Sanford throwing the third out at first base, and SW's sophomore pitcher Aryc Chrisman doing the same for the Saints' third out.

Chrisman knocked the ball out to center field and sent home sophomore Jack Casbarro at the top of the fourth inning.

Matthews took over for Sanford. The junior pitcher allowed three hits and a run from SW's Cole Barwick before he threw two strikeouts to end the inning.

The Saints led, 6-1, but Watt grabbed a bat.

He swung and delivered the ball over the fence for the lone home run of the game. Senior Landon Casey hit the ball to the center fence and brought in junior Ashton McGee. CBA trailed 6-3.

Relief pitcher Josh Jernigan entered the bottom of the sixth inning for the Saints, but the Golden Falcons collected two more runs.

Down by one run in the bottom of the seventh, CBA senior Bryce Anders and Davis both bunted. The Saints committed two frustrating errors and the Golden Falcons scored two runs for the comeback.

"It's like we tell these kids, 'Trust us. We've been around it a lot longer than you have, believe me'," Davis said. "There is a method to the madness, and it is a process. Once we started doing that, we had some good at-bats."

"Whenever we were up three runs early, we were making every play that they (CBA) hit to us," said SW head coach Jackson Massey. "We've been in a lot of these games all year, and our guys have to want to be in those situations, and I don't think everybody on our team wants to be in those situations.

"I'm proud of the fact they have. Any time you lose a one-run game to a team like Charles B. Aycock, that's a great effort."

The Saints (6-12 overall, 1-7 ECC) travel to J.H. Rose on Friday, while CBA (17-2, 5-2) visits D.H. Conley.