By By EUGENE L. TINKLEPAUGH, Staff Writer
What began as a slaughter had the makings of a horse race at Futrell Field on Friday. Beaufort County was in a 9-2 hole in the middle of the third inning in American Legion action but crawled out of it to come within one run in the seventh. The Post 15 team couldn’t steer that last horse into the stable and lost to Wilson, 11-8.
Conference foes Post 13 stayed the late rally with a two-run eighth inning and buckled down on the defensive end.
In the bottom of the eighth, Beaufort County (6-4, 4-1) got a runner on second base and no further. And in the final inning Friday, Post 15’s William Rushton opened with a single that plopped down between Wilson’s shortstop and the center fielder. Rushton stayed grounded at first as the next three Beaufort County batters made contact with the ball but were sent packing by Wilson’s defense.
Rushton was 4-5 for the night with an RBI in the first inning and a run in the third.
The big hitter for Post 15, though, was lead-off batter Corey Rogerson, who was 3-5 with a two-run triple and a one-run home run.
His triple in the fourth inning inflated Beaufort County’s snowballing momentum. Both Sean Droece and Zach Vanvoorhees were walked at the start of the inning. Their scores off of Rogerson’s slam to the back of the center field made the game 9-6.
Rogerson’s next at-bat would send up another baseball — this time over the fence — to bring the Wilson County lead to two.
Rogerson didn’t pitch Friday. Austin said he wanted to rest his “front-line pitcher” for Beaufort County’s game Tuesday against Edenton.
Wilson County batters came out strong against starting pitcher Alan Swain.
Swain pitched the first two-thirds of the first inning and gave up five runs. Post 13’s first five batters made it home off three hits.
Rushton closed out the inning with a strike-out, and Beaufort County was down 5-0 that fast.
Beaufort County mustered one run in the first thanks to Rushton’s RBI to bring in Rogerson.
But Wilson County answered with two runs in the second and two runs in the third to boost Post 13’s lead to its 9-2 pinnacle.
Patrick Williams relieved Rushton in the fifth inning.
In four of five innings Williams’ pitched, he kept Wilson County scoreless. He threw five strikeouts, walked two batters and gave up two runs and four hits — all in the eighth inning.
Wilson County 522 000 020 — 11 12 1
Beaufort County 112 201 100 — 8 10 3
WP: Justin Nygard; LP: Alan Swain
Hitters: WC — Zach Moore 1-6 (2B, run), Joe Toler 1-6 (run), Jacob Davis 3-6 (2B, 2RBIs, 2 runs), Thomas Moore 3-4 (2B, 2RBIs, 2 runs), Bradley Taylor 1-3 (HR, 2RBIs, 2 runs), Tony Whitehead 1-5 (RBI), Jeremy Efird 2-4 (2B, 2RBIs, run); BC — Corey Rogerson 3-5 (HR, 3B, 3RBIs, 2 runs), William Rushton 4-5 (RBI, run), Chris Ipock 1-5 (RBI), Alan Swain 1-5 (2B, RBI, run), Sean Droece 1-4 (RBI, run).