Unbeaten Post 11 cruises past Kinston Post 43

By Rudy Coggins [email protected]

Wayne County Post 11 first baseman Alex Ferrell waits for the throw from catcher Landon Sutton on a pickoff attempt during early-inning action against Kinston Post 43 on Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)

Wayne County Post 11 designated hitter Collin Woolard slides back to the bag, but Kinston first baseman Ricky Cooke managed to record the out after a high throw. Cooke's out completed the inning-ending double play Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)

Wayne County Post 11's Lane McLean hustles to third base on a sacrifice bunt by teammate Davis Albert during first-inning action against Kinston Post 43. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)

Wayne County Post 11 right-hander Will Pennington earned his first mound win of the season Monday evening. Pennington threw four solid innings as Post 11 cruised 9-2 against Kinston Post 43. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)

Still unbeaten.

Will Pennington threw four-plus stellar innings as Wayne County Post 11 improved to 9-0 overall with a 9-2 conquest of long-time foe Kinston Post 43 on Tuesday evening.

"It's not easy to win in Legion ball with long days and good teams to play against, but at the end of the day this team is really special," fifth-year WC head coach Adam Pate said. "I’m glad to be around them, happy to be around them."

Pennington looked sharp.

The right-hander yielded an unearned run on three hits and sat down seven Post 43 batters on strikeouts. He consistently threw in the mid to high 80s and topped out at 88 on the radar gun.

"His breaking ball and fastball was helping him get ahead early [against batters]," Pate said. "His velo was really good tonight. It's not easy to hit an 88-mile-an-hour fastball, even though you may know what's coming.

"He had a chance to come out of the game with no runs on the scoreboard but he did really well … threw a ton of strikes. Really proud of him, then Erik [Rosas] and Braeden [Collins]. Our pitching tonight was really good."

Pennington became the eighth Post 11 pitcher to pick up a mound win this season.

Rosas sought his third save of the young season, but lost that bid when Post 11 broke open the contest in the latter innings. The right-hander yielded one hit, walked one and struck out four in his two-inning stint.

Collins surrendered an earned run on two walks and collected one strikeouts.

"[The bullpen] is coming in and throwing strikes," Pate said. "If you throw strikes with a lead when you’re on the mound, good things will happen. It will be a little easier.

"When you give up free passes while you have a lead, that lead can sometimes shrink faster than they think. We’re doing a good job of getting ahead by throwing a lot of strikes. I’m proud to see that."

Wayne County struck first — in just five pitches.

Lead-off man Lane McLean doubled to left field and hustled to third on a sacrifice bunt by Davis Albert. Wyatt Lassiter drove in McLean with a deep fly ball to left field.

Kinston benefited from two defensive errors and knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning.

Post 11 finally solved Post 43 right-hander Drew Sweet in the third.

Davis Albert laced a one-out single up the middle with two outs. Sweet plunked Lassiter. Mason Moffett plated Albert with a base knock. Nate Smith connected on a two-RBI single that scored Lassiter and Moffett.

Smith added an RBI single in a two-run fifth that chased Sweet from the mound. A redshirt freshman at the University of Mount Olive, Smith ended the night 2-for-3 with three RBI.

"We were a little slow getting going [offensively]," Pate said. "When we got past maybe the third or fourth inning, we started scoring runs. We hit a lot of balls hard so that was really good to see."

Moffett wound up 3-for-3 with two RBI. Designated hitter Collin Woolard collected two hits. McLean, Albert and Lassiter (two RBI) each supplied one hit.

A rising senior at Southern Wayne, Sweet stuffed his worksheet with six earned runs on eight hits, one walk and two strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. He notched one of Kinston's four hits during the two-hour affair.

Wayne County entertains Louisburg today at the C35 Complex. First pitch is 7 p.m.