Southern Wayne’s Zack Aman reaches first base safely as Fike’s first baseman can’t field a wild throw Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Graham James gets tagged out during a first-inning double play. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne right fielder Caden Mozingo records a first-inning out against Fike on Friday afternoon. The Saints dropped a 6-1 decision and finished the year 4-12-1 overall. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne left-hander Alex Toler hurls a pitch toward the plate against Fike on Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne first baseman Cameron New records an out during middle-inning action against Quad County 3A rival Fike on Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne first baseman Cameron New records an out during middle-inning action against Quad County 3A rival Fike on Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
A Fike runner scores as Southern Wayne catcher James Graham can’t field a throw after the Golden Demons connected on a third-inning, two-RBI double. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne shortstop Zack Aman waits for the throw as a Fike player slides back to second base on a pickoff attempt Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
From left, Southern Wayne senior Dylan Daniels, Hayden Waller, assistant coach Doyle Whitfield, Cameron New and Cole Lane watch the action from the dugout while the Saints are on offense during the junior varsity game Friday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Alex Ferrell, left, and Drew Sweet tap helmets after Ferrell hit a two-run, home run in the third inning against Fike on Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Alex Ferrell waits for his turn at the plate while teammate Drew Sweet bats during third-inning action Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s E’lla Boykin, right, dives back to third base after getting caught in a third-inning rundown against Fike on Friday evening. Boykin was tagged out on the play. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Hayden Waller squares up for a bunt during his second at-bat against Fike on Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne first baseman Tyler Odom fields the throw on an early-game pickoff attempt against Fike on Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne right-hander Drew Sweet scattered nine hits in five innings and emerged as the winning pitcher against Fike on Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s varsity baseball team stands with Dylan Daniel and his parents during senior night Friday in Dudley. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne head coach Trae McKee, left, stands with his lone senior, Dylan Daniels, and parents Mandy and Les Daniels before the Saints battled Fike in the Quad County 3A regular-season finale for both teams Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Tyler Odom slides into second base after reaching on a third-inning error Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Is the slump over? Southern Wayne junior Alex Ferrell and head coach Trae McKee hope so.
Ferrell drilled his fourth home run of the season and filed a 2-for-4, three-RBI worksheet during a 7-4 senior night victory over Quad County 3A foe Wilson Fike on Friday evening.
“He had a seeing-eye ground ball up the middle [first at-bat] and I couldn’t have been more happier,” said McKee.
Ferrell was just getting started.
Focused, he knelt inside the on-deck circle and watched teammate Drew Sweet stroke a two-strike single up the middle to start the third.
Less than a minute later, Ferrell tattooed a breaking ball that cleared the right center-field fence. McKee greeted Ferrell with a low five as he rounded third base.
Sweet met him for a helmet tap at the plate.
“Alex is an awesome hitter, has been really good for us, but he’s had a tough stretch the last two or three games,” McKee said. “He comes from a football family and has a football mentality. He shows a lot of confidence … is strong with the bat in hand.
“It’s good to see when things get tough, his mentality is to try harder and sometimes in baseball can work against a player.”
Ferrell’s first-inning base knock ended halted a frustrating stretch of nine consecutive official at-bats without a hit and five strikeouts. He boosted his team-leading home run total to four this season and now has eight in his varsity career.
The multi-run blast boosted Southern Wayne’s advantage to 5-0 through three innings.
Two days earlier, Ferrell and his teammates struggled with plate approaches at perennial 2A power Greene Central. The Saints had six strikeouts and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position during the second through fourth innings.
“I feel like the strength of our team has been putting together good at-bats, having good approaches at the plate,” McKee said. “We roll with the bats most of the time. When we’re swinging the bat well, getting guys on base [and] moving them up, we have a tendency to build on that momentum.
“Sometimes when you get behind early in the game, you all of a sudden try to do too much at the plate and that’s not a recipe for success.”
Southern Wayne led 2-0 after one inning.
Brayden McKee’s walk and E’lla Boykin’s double down the left-field line put the Saints in business again in the second inning. McKee scored on a wild pitch, but the Demons escaped any further damage.
Ferrell’s bases-clearing blast could have broken the game open further in the third. With one out, Tyler Odom and Jake Coates reached on back-to-back infield errors with one out. Fike turned an inning-ending double play.
The Saints tacked on two runs in the fourth after the Golden Demons closed the gap to 5-2. Fike tacked on a single run in each of the fifth and seventh innings.
Sweet earned the mound win.
The hard-throwing right-hander surrendered three earned runs on nine hits, walked one and retired two Golden Demons on strikeouts in five innings.
“Drew has been our ‘go-to’ arm and he’s really stepped up to the plate,” coach McKee said. “When he’s on the mound, I think our whole team feels like Drew is going to put us in a position to win the ballgame. It’s our responsiblity to get a run or two behind him in support.
“He was able to throw his breaking ball for a strike and get ahead of a lot of hitters with his breaking ball. Throw just hard to know that you [as an opposing batter] have to respect that and he has ability to slip a fastball in there. He stayed out patterns, too.”
Hayden Waller earned the save with two innings of two-strikeout relief.
Boykin, Ferrell and Sweet (two RBI) collected two hits apiece. Jake Coates batted 1-for-3. Boykin stole two bases, while Ferrell and Waller each had one steal.
Dylan Daniels, the Saints’ lone senior and multi-sport athlete, was honored prior to the first pitch.
Southern Wayne (15-7 overall) shared third place with county rival Charles B. Aycock and West Johnston at 9-5 in the league standings. South Johnston claimed the regular-season championship.
