MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Already basking in the midst of a record-setting campaign, Wayne County Post 11 reached another milestone during its three-day weekend jaunt in the Palmetto State.
Once again, head coach Adam Pate joined elite company.
Braeden Collins and Nate Smith combined for a complete-game, one-hitter during an 11-2 conquest of Evans (Georgia) Post x on Sunday afternoon.
Post 11 reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth consecutive season — a feat that hasn’t occurred since the Doyle Whitfield era when he guided the tradition-rich program to seven straight 20-win seasons from 1996-2002.
“I did not know that…really cool,” fifth-year Post 11 head coach Adam Pate said.
Wayne County went 4-0 during the three-day, multi-team event.
Pate’s team opened play with a nail-biting, 7-6 decision over Tallahassee (Florida) Post 13. Sterling Bass threw a one-hit shutout in a 14-0, mercy-rule thrashing of Jacksonville (Florida). Timely hitting led to a 9-7 conquest of Pee Dee Senior Gold.
“I thought we played really well the whole time,” said Pate, whose team is 10-1 during its three appearances in the Invitational.
Wayne County 7, Tallahassee 6
Tallahassee erupted for six runs in the second inning and held that advantage through three innings.
Wayne County (20-3 overall) chipped away at the deficit and took the lead with a three-run, sixth-inning uprising. Nate Smith provided the eventual game-winning run with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field that scored Mason Moffett.
Smith (two RBI), Wyatt Lassiter, Davis Albert (RBI) and Landon Sutton (RBI) collected two hits apiece. Bass, Lane McLean and Carter Aycock (RBI) each cranked out one hit.
Will Pennington emerged as the winning pitcher. The right-hander yielded six earned runs on five hits and three walks, and logged five strikeouts during his five-inning stint.
Cohen Waddell earned the save with two innings of one-hit, one-strikeout relief.
“Penny was rolling, then we had a bad inning and he got back into it,” Pate said. “He was able to save our bullpen for the weekend. He’s a veteran we’ve had in our program, he’s tough and didn’t give up a run the rest of the game.”
Wayne County 14, Jacksonville 0
Bass handcuffed Jacksonville on Saturday.
A rising junior at Wayne Country Day, he surrendered one hit, walked two and struck out eight during the five-inning affair.
Lassiter (RBI), McLean (RBI), Smith (two RBI) and Alex Ferrell recorded two hits apiece. Albert (RBI), Moffett, Daniel Kornegay and Aycock (RBI) each supplied one hit.
Sutton drove in two runs.
Wayne County 9, Pee Dee 7
After seeing its six-run advantage disappear in the bottom of the fifth inning, Wayne County bounced back in the next two innings.
Albert stroked an RBI triple in the sixth that scored Ferrell. Collins plated Kornegay with an RBI double in the seventh. The critical insurance run occurred after Pee Dee’s defense avoided a steal of home plate.
Moffett (two RBI), Albert (RBI), Sutton (RBI) and Collins (two RBI) notched two hits apiece. Lassiter (two RBI), McLean, Aycock, Smith and Ferrell (RBI) each contributed a hit.
Lenoir Community College commit Daniel Weeks emerged as the winning pitcher in relief of starter Ayden West. He tossed two-plus innings of two-hit, three-strikeout relief.
West permitted seven runs (six earned) on one hit and seven walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Wayne County 11, Evans 2
Collins held Post 192 hitless through four innings. The right-hander walked three and struck out five before getting relieved by Smith in the fifth.
Evans spoiled the no-hit bid with a two-run homer against Smith in the sixth.
Erik Rosas hurled one inning of scoreless relief.
Albert (two RBI), Moffett (three RBI) and Kornegay (two RBI) posted two hits apiece in the scorebook. Collins (RBI) and Ferrell (RBI) each had one hit.
Defense and thievery
Wayne County committed just four errors in 26 innings defensively and swiped an eye-popping 39 bases on 43 attempts as a team over the weekend. That included a single-game, program-record 16 steals against Jacksonville.
Aycock led the way with 10 stolen bags.
Post 11 averaged 11 hits per game.
“We definitely had some good swings down here, good at-bats, took advantage of walks,” Pate said. “Even if it was just one run [we put] on the board and that turned out to be very helpful. Hopefully we can keep that going.
“Staying aggressive on the bases, no doubt, was a big part. We did get thrown out a couple of times. Our guys always have that mentality of taking that extra base when they can and playing hard.”
Post 11 returns home Tuesday for its Strike Out Cancer game against long-time nemesis Wilson Post 13.
“We’ve had several families in our program affected by cancer recently and it’s prominent in the world today,” Pate said. “[It’s] hit close to home [this year]. We’re going with pink in different forms for the game.”
