Wayne/Wakefield built a big lead, then had to hang on for dear life to escape Pender with a 10-8 win over Thurston-Cuming County in baseball action Tuesday evening.
The Blue Devils scored five runs in the top of the seventh to take a 10-1 advantage, but the Thunder rolled back to make a game of it, scoring seven before Wayne/Wakefield could finally put the hosts away to improve to 5-7 on the season.
Brennen O’Reilly singled and scored on a Payten Gamble fielder’s choice in the first to give Wayne/Wakefield a 1-0 advantage. They added two more in the second when Kaleb Anderson — courtesy running for Adam Bentjen, scored on a passed ball and Tucker Nichols scored on a Tyler Lutt single to make it 3-0.
Thurston-Cuming County got a run in the third to get within 3-1, and Wayne/Wakefield came back with two more in the fifth when Gamble singled and scored O’Reilly and Lutt.
Wayne appeared to have the game in hand in the seventh when they came up with five runs in the inning, using a Thunder error, a wild pitch and a passed ball to make it 10-1 going to the bottom of the seventh. Hagan Miller had a two-run single to score Zane Jackson and Caden Korth, and O’Reilly scored on a Jackson single after reaching on an error. Anderson scored on a wild pitch and Miller came home on a passed ball to cap the big inning.
Thurston-Cuming County came back, however, taking advantage of four wild pitches, a passed ball and an error, along with a steal of home, to put the tying run at the plate. Korth, coming on in relief, got the final out on a groundout to Miller to end the game.
Lutt, O’Reilly and Jackson each had two hits to lead Wayne/Wakefield’s 11-hit attack. Gamble had three RBI’s and Miller brought home two. O’Reilly scored three times and Anderson came home twice.
Tucker Nichols scattered four runs on three hits and struck out five in six innings of work. Gamble struggled in relief and Korth got the final three outs in the seventh to give the Blue Devils the win.
Wayne/Wakefield plays Thursday at Crete.
