C.B. Aycock baseball shuts out Southern Wayne 5-0

C.B. Aycock avenged a loss in Pikeville earlier this season Tuesday night, dispatching cross-county rival Southern Wayne 5-0 for the Falcons’ fourth win in a row.

Aycock (11-4, 4-3) grabbed the advantage in the top of the third inning with a two-out rally that started with Chandler Matthews drawing a walk and stealing second. Matthews reached third on a passed ball and scored on a single by senior Bradley Pate. Blake Gipson singled to send Pate to third before he scored when a pick-off attempt at first went awry.

Aside from a Manny Walker single and stolen base in the second, the Saints offense was quiet through the first five innings, which head coach Trae McKee said set them back as they tried to come from behind.

“We didn’t make a whole lot of adjustments early,” he said, adding that his players had better plate appearances in the later innings. “When you don’t do that throughout the game and it rolls over 1-2-3 – you don’t threaten. You don’t put any pressure on the defense.”

Pate drew a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth, stole second and advanced to third on a well-placed groundout. Chris Turner hit a sacrifice fly to give the visitors a 3-0 lead on a team that beat them 4-1 on St. Patrick's Day.

“These guys are doing a good job coming to work every day and practicing and getting better,” said Aycock coach Charles Davis.

Nolan Harrell and Tyler Daniels hit singles to lead it off in the seventh and Luke Frederick pushed both runners across the plate with a base hit of his own.

The Saints (4-4, 8-7) had their chances in the last half of the inning with a Lance Wise on second, but Walker hit a liner right at Pate, who flipped it to Smitherman to catch Wise for a double play. A hit batter gave Southern Wayne two men on base with two outs, but the game ended on a Dylan Whitley lineout.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 10:28 AM with the headline "C.B. Aycock baseball shuts out Southern Wayne 5-0."