North Lenoir baseball's comeback falls short in Game 1 of 2A East Regional series

WHITEVILLE — North Lenoir’s hitters battled hard on every pitch in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday night.

The Hawks just needed more outs.

North Lenoir’s rally wasn’t quite enough as the Hawks fell 5-3 in Game 1 of the NCHSAA Class 2-A Eastern Regional championship series at Legion Stadium.

“We just ran out of time,” said North Lenoir coach Jackson Massey.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Thursday at 7 p.m. at North Lenoir. Sophomore Jackson Jenkins, who is 6-4 with a 2.31 earned run average, will get the start for North Lenoir. Game 3, if necessary, will be Saturday at 4 p.m. in Whiteville.

The Hawks (19-9) dug themselves in a hole as the Wolfpack (22-3) tallied four unearned runs. They trailed 5-1 entering the seventh but eventually got the go-ahead run to the plate.

Blake Crawford drew a one-out walk, and Auston Dildy smacked a run-scoring double. Dildy took third on a wild pitch and, two batters later, Tyler Sears then engaged Whiteville ace Ty Lawson in a 10-pitch at-bat that featured four two-strike foul balls. Sears finally put the ball in play and it was mishandled as Dildy scored, making it a 5-3 game.

Jacob Suggs drew a walk after an eight-pitch at-bat but Lawson, who has signed with UNC-Wilmington, got a strikeout to end the game.

“We timed him up good early in the game,” Massey said. “But we had a lull in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. We didn't get quality at-bats. But you’ve got to give him credit.”

And Lawson survived what was a 38-pitch final inning.

“I’ve been in a lot of spots like that this year,” Lawson said. “I knew what I had to do. I had the confidence I could do it.”

The game started great for the Hawks when Hunter Coulombe led off with a triple to deep left and scored on Matt Hill’s grounder.

Whiteville got that run right back in the bottom of the first when Luke Odham tripled and scored on an error.

The Wolfpack bunched up four hits off North Lenoir ace Luke Cannon, who has signed with Campbell. Some of the damage was mitigated when Cannon picked off a runner and the Hawks gunned down another at third. But the Wolfpack got RBI singles from Will Fisher, J.T. Todd and Caleb Johnson mixed in with another error. That added up to three runs and a 4-1 lead.

“They capitalized on our mistakes,” Massey said. “We gave them too many chances. At this stage, you’ve got to limit your mistakes.”

But after the rally, Massey was ready to turn the page.

“I’m proud of our guys for keeping their heads up,” he said. “You’ve got to win two. We’ll flip the script and be ready Thursday.”

This article originally appeared on Kinston/Jones Free Press: Whiteville fends off North Lenoir rally in NCHSAA 2A East baseball