American Legion playoffs
Whiteville 5 Brunswick County 4
For the second time in as many nights, Whiteville rallied late as Post 137 came from behind to advance in the American Legion playoffs with a 5-4 win over Brunswick County in a decisive game five on Wednesday night.
Trailing by three, Jake Shumate drove in a pair of runs with a line drive to right-center field and MacKenzie Gore came up clutch with a 2 RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to give Whiteville the lead.
Shumate threw into the ninth and held the Brunswick County hitters at bay after allowing three runs early in the ballgame.
Post 137 takes on Wilmington Post 10 in a series that begins on Saturday. Due to the Wilmington Sharks game at Legion Stadium in the Port City Saturday, game one will be played in Whiteville.
Coastal Plain League
Fayetteville Swampdogs 12 Wilmington Sharks 4
The SwampDogs scored six in the bottom of the first and never looked back as they picked up a 12-4 win over the Wilmington Sharks on Wednesday night at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
The Dogs got to Sharks starting pitcher John Parke early and often. The Sharks’ starter walked both David Palenzuela (Miami Dade) and Kam Stewart (Frostburg State) with the bases loaded to bring in the first two runs for the Dogs, and singles from Brandon Metoyer (Menlo) and Jacob Whiting (Montevallo), sandwiched around a Palmer Page (Utah Valley) sacrifice fly, capped off the six-run rally.
The SwampDogs would add three more runs off of Parke in the fourth inning, once again fueled by his control problems. Parke walked two in the inning and uncorked two wild pitches, before being yanked with two outs in favor of Pat Toohers.
Toohers surrendered a run in the fifth and two in the sixth before settling down. He went the final 4.1 innings for the Sharks, allowing four hits and the three runs, while hitting two batters and throwing two wild pitches of his own.
The Sharks finish up a four-game road trip Thursday in Morehead City.
