Wayne County Post 11’s Wyatt Lassiter is tagged out at the plate during late-inning action against Fuquay-Varina Post 116 in the NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament championship Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Landon Sutton, second from right, walks back to the dugout with his teammates after crushing a two-run homer during early-inning action against Rowan County in their elimination-round game Saturday at the NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Rowan County’s Luke Graham (2) tries to avoid the tag from Wayne County Post 11 catcher Landon Sutton during early-inning action Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Braeden Collins steals second base while Fuquay-Varina shortstop Jalen Evans has trouble fielding the throw during middle-inning action Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Nate Smith looks back toward head coach Adam Pate after a closely-called strike during an at-bat against Rowan County on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 right-hander Gabe Adams threw 102 pitches and earned the mound win — a 5-4 decision over Rowan County — in their elimination-round game at the NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 pitcher Collin Woolard, middle, is greeted by teammates after he kept Fuquay-Varina hitless through three innings Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 infielder Nate McLean reacts to the umpire’s call after getting thrown out at the plate during late-game action against Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Collin Woolard scores a fifth-inning run as Fuquay-Varina catcher Matthew Vannoy can’t handle the high throw. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Nate Smith is tagged out at the plate while attempting to score a late-game run against Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 shortstop Davis Albert, left, leaps over Rowan County’s Morgan Padgett, who failed to break up a sixth-inning double play Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Landon Sutton attempts to pump up the crowd after teammate Collin Woodard, background, scored a fifth-inning run against Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 finished runner-up to Fuquay-Varina Post 116 in the 2023 NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament contested at Campbell University. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 shortstop Davis Albert catches a pop fly in shallow left field against Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Mason Moffett slides into third base as Rowan County shortstop JT Taylor can’t field a ground ball during early-inning action Saturday afternoon. Defending the bag is Rowan County’s Luke Graham. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 pitching coach Matt Hare, center, talks with starting pitcher Gabe Adams, right, in the dugout after he completed an early inning against Rowan County on Saturday afternoon. At left is teammate Carter Aycock. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Rowan County’s JT Taylor can’t believe the umpire’s call after he safely stole second base Saturday afternoon. However, Taylor slid past the bag and was tagged out by Wayne County Post 11 shortstop Davis Albert. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 head coach Adam Pate talks with his team before their elimination-round game against Rowan County in the 2023 NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Lane McLean steals second base against Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. McLean leaves as the program’s all-time career stolen-base leader with 50. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
One of the best middle infielder combo to wear a Wayne County Post 11 uniform, teammates Davis Albert (front) and Lane McLean hug after a season-ending loss to Fuquay-Varina on Saturday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11’s Carter Aycock, who endured a season-ending injury in June, holds the state championship runner-up trophy. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Wayne County Post 11 head coach Adam Pate talks with his team after a 5-2 loss to Fuquay-Varina in the 2023 NC Senior American Legion state baseball championship game Saturday afternoon. Behind Pate, from left, pitching coach Matt Hare, assistant coach Chad Pate and assistant coach Colton Chrisman. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
BUIES CREEK — Wayne County Post 11 got the highly-anticipated rematch it wanted against season-long nemesis Fuquay-Varina Post 116 Saturday afternoon.
Revenge seemed possible through four innings.
Collin Woolard kept Fuquay-Varina hitless and Wayne County broke a scoreless tie with a two-run outburst in the fifth.
That momentum didn’t last long.
Post 116 profited from untimely miscues — the springboard to a 5-2 comeback win and the 2023 NC Senior American Legion state baseball tournament title.
“Long and tiring [day],” Pate said. “I think it’s impressive that our kids played as well as they did in two games where each team we played, you know, only played one. I’m proud of them. You can’t look back on any one thing.
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Landon Sutton’s two-run bomb and Gabe Adams’ 102-pitch outing helped Wayne County outlast Rowan County, 5-4, in the day’s first elimination game. Collin Woolard sealed the outcome with one inning of one-strikeout relief.
Post 11’s defense turned double plays in the sixth and seventh innings to keep its dream of a first-ever state championship alive.
Those aspirations became more prominent against Fuquay-Varina.
Landon Sutton drew a one-out walk and moved to second base after Woolard got plunked by a pitch. Wyatt Lassiter loaded the bases with an infield single, which set the table for Lane McLean.
The rising sophomore at the University of Mount Olive stroked a two-RBI single to center field. Post 116 avoided further damage with an inning-ending double play.
Fuquay-Varina knotted the game at 2-2 on a passed ball and wild pitch in the fifth. An error, passed ball, wild pitch and two-RBI double off the left-field wall by Jalen Evans pushed Post 116 in front 5-2 through six innings.
Woolard departed in the fifth. The right-hander yielded two earned runs on no hits, walked three and logged one strikeout.
“We really weren’t too keen on him starting the second game, just trying to be smart with his arm,” Pate said. “But he wanted the ball. He felt good and did really well, so proud of his effort and all of our guys, too.”
Wayne County’s season-long calling card has been its aggressive style of play on the base paths. Post 11 attempted to score on three occasions and Post 116 gunned down all three runners at the plate in the latter stages of the contest.
“It’s hard to look back on anything because, I’ll be honest, you’re playing with house money,” Pate said. “At that point, we had already played and we didn’t have to beat them twice because they lost last night [Friday]. We had played a game [earlier today], we’re tired, we’re pitching guys that are two-way players … playing the field, hitting, running and then they have to go pitch.
“The aggressive plays we had where we got thrown out, I don’t look back on anything regretful ways like that. We had a couple of chances early on. We just didn’t quite execute.”
Lassiter, McLean, Davis Albert, Mason Moffett, Collins and Gabe Adams collected one hit apiece. Collins swiped two bags. McLean stole one bag and ended his career as the program’s all-time steals thief with 50.
Moffett (RBI), Nate Smith and Sutton (two RBI) each pounded out two hits against Rowan County. Woolard and Albert each had one hit.
In its first state final since 2011, Wayne County concluded the year 33-8.
“Absolutely proud of these kids, proud of our program,” said Pate, who is the program’s fourth coach to take multiple teams to the state tournament. “What they did this week was special, which is what it has been all summer. You can see how much they care. A lot of teams in the summer don’t have camaraderie, but we do.
“You hate to see ours [season] come to an end because this group was talented and they were tight. It will be tough to ever top this team, but that’s our goal to try to do what we can do to finish it up.”
2023 NC Senior American Legion
State Baseball Tournament
(at Jim Perry Stadium, Campbell University)
Tuesday’s games
Game 1: Pitt County 2, Cleveland County 1
Game 2: High Point 5, Wilmington 1
Game 3: Wayne County 4, Rowan County 1
Game 4: Fuquay-Varina 3, Cherryville 1
Wednesday’s games
Game 5: Wilmington 13, Cleveland County 5 (Cleveland County eliminated)
Game 6: Rowan County 11, Cherryville 4 (Cherryville eliminated)
Game 7: High Point 12, Pitt County 1 (5 inn.)
Game 8: Fuquay-Varina 10, Wayne County 4
Thursday’s games
Game 9: Rowan County 6, Pitt County 2 (Pitt County eliminated)
Game 10: Wayne County 9, Wilmington 7 (Wilmington eliminated)
Game 11: Fuquay-Varina 6, High Point 1
Friday’s games
Semifinals
Game 12: Wayne County 7, High Point 6 (High Point eliminated)
Game 13: Rowan County 7, Fuquay-Varina 3
Saturday’s games
Elimination semifinal
Game 14: Wayne County 5, Rowan County 4 (Rowan County eliminated)
Championship
Game 15: Fuquay-Varina 5, Wayne County 2 (Wayne County eliminated)
