East Wake reverses earlier loss to Garner baseball

Revenge was sweet for Will Davis and East Wake on Thursday night.

The junior righthander picked up his second win in as many tries in Greater Neuse River 4A baseball play, helping his own cause with three hits and two RBI as the Warriors rocked host Garner 10-2.

The result came two nights after the Warriors had taken a 14-4 shellacking from the Trojans on their home field.

The GNRC has switched from a double round-robin format to a two-game series with one opponent each week. East improved to 3-7, 2-2 in conference play, with the win while Garner is 5-6 after its first conference loss in four outings.

“It helped that we got three runs in the first inning to take a little pressure off the pitcher,” said East coach Tony Piercy, in his first year at the helm after his former stint at Heritage. “What we’re trying to build here is that when we get three we get four, and it makes a lot harder for our opponent to stay in it. We got some clutch pitches and some clutch two-strike hitting tonight.”

Turning point

East scored three runs in the first to take control. Peyton Creech and Davis each had RBI singles during the rally.

They said it

“East came out and hit the ball well,” Garner coach Derik Goffena said. “They just came out and played quite a bit better than us tonight. I think with this schedule you can see who’s the better team. We were the better team on Tuesday and they were the better team tonight.”

Three who mattered

Will Davis, East Wake: He struck out four against a pair of walks in his seven-hit complete game.

“The guys really played good defense behind me and I had good run support,” Davis said. “And I did a decent job of executing pitches. We just came into the game wanting to bounce back.”

Jake Murray, East Wake: The sophomore first baseman went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI.

Justin Torres, East Wake: The junior shortstop and leadoff man went 2-for-3 with a pair of steals and a sacrifice bunt.

By the numbers

2: Hits apiece for Garner’s Noah Gallogly and Ryan Wheeler.

3: Times East scored at least three runs in an inning.

4: East players with multiple-hit games.

11: East hits in the game.

Looking ahead

East Wake hosts Apex on Friday night and visits Holly Springs on Saturday night.

The Warriors’ next conference games are against West Johnston, on the road April 5 and at home April 7.

“I was able to see the ball when it was in the zone and square it up,” said East Wake center fielder Peyton Creech, 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. “We didn’t like what happened on Tuesday and wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.”

Garner’s next games are on April 5 and 8 against Harnett Central, with the first game on the road.

“I was able to see the ball and hit the ball tonight,” said Garner junior first baseman Noah Gallogly, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI and was 4-for-5 for the series. “I think we might have taken them a little lightly and I know they wanted to beat us bad tonight. We just can’t let that happen.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 1:14 AM with the headline "East Wake reverses earlier loss to Garner baseball."