BENSON — Southern Wayne struggled at the plate offensively and couldn’t overcome four errors in a 6-2 loss to Quad County 3A baseball rival West Johnston on a windy Friday evening.
The Wildcats tallied five unearned runs.
Starting pitcher Tyler Odom (2-1) worked four innings. The sophomore left-hander yielded four runs (one earned) on five hits and retired two West Johnston batters on strikeouts.
Drew Sweet tossed two innings of two-hit, two-strikeout relief. West Johnston plated two unearned runs against the junior right-hander.
The Saints scratched out two hits — one each by Sweet and Cuyler Daly, who collected his team-leading 16th RBI of the season.
E’lla Boykin and Zach Aman scored one run apiece.
Aman and junior Alex Ferrell each stole a base. Ferrell and freshman Hayden Waller share the team lead in steals with nine.
West Johnston starter Kolby Jarman emerged as the winning pitcher. The sophomore permitted two earned runs on two hits, walked five and logged nine strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings on the bump.
Junior Coen Czysz recorded the save with 1 1/3 nnings of no-hit, two-strikeout relief.
Southern Wayne (9-2) suffered its first road defeat of the season and dropped into a three-way tie with West Johnston (8-3) and South Johnston (5-6) in QCC play. All three teams are 4-2.
The Saints return home Tuesday to face QCC and county rival Charles B. Aycock, which is tied with Hunt atop the conference standings at 5-1. The Golden Falcons have won 27 of 41 meetings against the Saints since 2004.
The JV game starts at 4 p.m. with varsity game to follow.
