WHS to play host to S. Lenoir in
Tuesday’s 4th round playoff game

By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

“Winning ugly” has almost become a catch-phrase for the Whiteville High School baseball team this spring, but as Wolfpack head coach Brett Harwood continues to put it, “At least we’re winning.”

By scoring three early runs solely on defensive miscues by the visiting East Duplin Panthers, the Wolfpack managed to take a 6-5 victory in the third round of the state 2A playoffs Friday.

The Waccamaw Conference champion Wolfpack had to hold off a strong East Duplin surge in the final inning after ace senior righthander Robbie Penny had relieved starter Michael Wright in the sixth. The Panthers scored two runs and had the tying and winning runs on second and third when WHS got the final out.

“Even when things aren’t going very well, this group is still confident that they can win,” Harwood said. “We were lucky to get some runs early and then did a good job bringing more runs across late in the game.”

Penny picked up his second straight win of the playoffs to put his season mound record at 11-2.

Whiteville, now carrying a 21-5 record, will play host to South Lenoir Friday at 7 p.m., in the fourth round of the playoffs. South Lenoir, the East Central Conference champion, advanced Friday by defeating fellow East Central rival Clinton 1-0. South Lenoir, which slipped past South Columbus 2-1 in second-round play, has a 21-2 record. Tuesday’s winner will go against the North Lenoir-Cedar Ridge winner in a best-of-three series for the Eastern N.C. 2A championship, beginning Thursday.

Whiteville took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Quan Gaddy led off with an infield hit and Penny reached on an error at shortstop. Both advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Wright and both scored from third on passed balls. Benny Nye scored a run for the Wolfpack in the second inning on the aid of two more East Duplin and a balk.

East Duplin, the runnerup in the East Central Conference, battled back in the third inning when Wright hit the Panthers’ Sean Kennedy with a pitch. Reid Smith followed with a double and the Panthers scored on a ground-out to first base by Aaron Miller and a Whiteville error to make the score 3-2.

Smith led off the fifth inning and was hit by a another Wright pitch. Josh Kennedy later hit a two-out single to right field to tie the score.

After two quick outs in the top of the sixth inning, Wright yielded a walk to Tony Blizzard, a single by Sean Kennedy and a walk to Reid Smith. Penny came in from shortstop to relieve Wright and struck out Brandon Thigpen on a 2-2 pitch to retire the side with the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ben Deans and Nye reached base on a walk and error and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Zach Stanley. Gaddy and Penny followed with singles to drive home runs and a fielding error following Penny’s hit allowed Gaddy to sprint home for a 6-3 lead.

In the top of the seventh inning, Penny hit Aaron Miller with an 0-2 pitch before striking out Josh Kennedy. Elias Villegas drew walk and Seth Sandlin was safe om an infield error to load the bases. Daniel King followed with a two-run single to leftfield and took second on the throw in. Penny then struck out Tony Blizzard before Sean Kennedy hit a high pop-up behind homeplate that WHS catcher Lloyd Enzor caught for the final out.

Deans had a double for Whiteville while Gaddy finished with two hits. Penny and Enzor also had hits.

The game had originally been moved to Thursday night in order to avoid conflict with East Duplin’s Friday night prom. However, the game was rained out Friday and rescheduled for Friday at 4 p.m.

The Wolfpack had opened the playoffs with a 4-2 win over Jacksonville Northside and defeated West Bladen 3-0 in second-round play.

Miller, S. Kennedy (3) and Sandlin; Wright, Penny (6) and Enzor.