Cougars show competitive edge against Hawks

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on May 3, 2016 1:49 PM

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Goldsboro head baseball coach Danny Merritt encouraged his team to follow two rules -- avoid errors and run the bases -- during Monday's game against North Lenoir.

The Cougars displayed their competitive edge in a 14-2, mercy-rule loss to the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference leader on the Wayne Academy diamond. The Hawks earned at least a share of the regular-season title.

After falling to South Lenoir, 22-0, six days ago, the Cougars held the Hawks scoreless in the first and fifth inning.

Goldsboro picked up two runs off of effective base running.

"There were three innings that they (NL) had four or five runs, the other two innings, zero to one run," Merritt said. "Those were the innings we didn't give them extra outs. When we play error-free ball, it keeps it competitive.

"That's what we've been doing when we've been competitive. "

Goldsboro trailed the Hawks, 4-0, by the bottom of the third.

Plenty of breathing room for the Cougars -- until NL senior Braxton Greene stepped up to bat with the bases loaded at the top. Greene connected on a grand slam home run to push the Hawks further ahead at 8-0.

NL scored two more runs at the top of the fourth - reminding the Cougars of the mercy rule against the Blue Devils. But Goldsboro freshman Peter Mehlhaff and sophomore Chandler Patrick remembered.

The Hawks overthrew a pitch and Patrick took home. Another error pushed Mehlhaff across the plate, giving the Cougars hope for a comeback.

The Hawks crushed that idea.

NL Junior Zach Turner knocked the ball to center field in the sixth inning and sent home junior Reese Hobbs. Senior Garrett Letchworth fired the ball to left field, rolling in junior Jackson Sullivan. Senior Allen Sutton hit a line drive toward left that brought in Greene and Letchworth.

"Base running should actually be our strength," Merritt said. "It's been a liability most of the year. They're (Cougars) still learning, they're still young, they're still learning to run the bases at this level.

"We're going to stay aggressive. Even in that situation, with the score like it was, that would dictate station-to-station baseball, but at that point in the game, the kids are still trying to learn the game."

Weather permitting, the Cougars (3-16 overall, 1-7 ECC) visit Ayden-Grifton today.