Southern Wayne junior catcher Alex Ferrell snaps his shin guards into place before he begins work behind the dish. The junior had two hits, two stolen bases and eight putouts during the Saints’ season-opening, 10-5 conquest of South Lenoir on Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Southern Wayne overcame seven defensive errors and doubled up South Lenoir, 10-5, on the baseball diamond Tuesday evening.
It was the season opener for both teams.
Junior catcher Alex Ferrell paced the Saints’ attack with two hits and an RBI. He stole two bases and logged eight putouts behind the plate.
Cuyler Daly (RBI), Drew Sweet, Braxton Toler (RBI), Tyler Odom (RBI), E’lla Boykin, Brayden McKee (two RBI) and Hayden Waller (RBI) cranked out one hit apiece.
Tyler McKee collected an RBI.
The Saints capitalized on five hit batsmen and six walks.
“We had some clutch hitting, ran the bases well, executed some situational offense,” Saints head coach Trae McKee said. “Drew was excellent on the mound. He had great mound presence. Hayden came in and threw well. We need to clean up some defense, but the effort was great.”
Sweet limited the Blue Devils to three runs (none earned) on three hits and filed seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings of work. Waller supplied 1 1/3 innings of two-hit relief.
Defensively, Daly and Boykin recorded four assists apiece.
Southern Wayne snapped a four-game skid against the Blue Devils and improved to 9-4 in season openers since 2010. Weather permitting, the Saints (1-0 overall) entertain county rival Goldsboro on Thursday.
