Michael Ellsworth believes his Kinston baseball team is a handful of hits away from having more wins than losses.
Against Farmville Central the Vikings couldn’t get them when needed most.
Dylan Moore’s two-out single tied it in the sixth inning and Zach Peters’ base hit put the Jaguars ahead for good in the seventh in a 4-3 win where Kinston had the winning run on with no outs in the final inning Thursday and couldn’t capitalize.
The loss dropped Kinston to 4-11 overall and 0-7 in its final season as a member of the Eastern Plains 2A Conference.
“I think we’re going in the right direction. I know I keep saying it over and over, but every game’s been like this all year,” Ellsworth said. “A hit here and there and we’re above .500.”
Damien Williams worked a full-count walk to start the home-half of the seventh at Grainger Stadium and Robert Blake followed by beating out a bunt down the first-base line to put the Vikings in good position.
Ellsworth called for VeQuain Joyner to move the runners over, but his bunt didn’t get as far down the third-base line as he had hoped and Williams was forced out at third for the first out.
Still, Kinston had runners and first and second for Taishu McLawhorn, who successfully sacrificed them over. With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, Farmville Central starter Ricky Hamill made pitch No. 125 count the most as he retired Ryan Harrell swinging to end the game and the threat.
“It’s baseball, and unfortunately it kind of goes that way,” Ellsworth said, “but I’m so proud of them because they’ve improved and they keep coming and fighting.”
Harrell’s strikeout was a low point to an otherwise solid day both at and behind the plate.
The junior catcher’s two-run double to the gap in left-center in the fifth gave Kinston a 3-2 lead, albeit briefly. He also added a single in the second and kept plenty of pitches in front of him that were in the dirt.
Moore’s game-tying infield single in the sixth was Farmville Central’s third hit of the frame off reliever Will Deters. He yielded a lead-off double to pinch hitter Jeremi White, then Jake Ashorn and Moore had back-to-back two-out hits, neither of which left the infield.
In the seventh Alex Strickland singled and scored when Peters found a hole up the middle.
There weren’t a whole lot of productive hits in this one — Kinston went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and the Jaguars were 5-for-15 — but Farmville Central (8-8, 4-2) got them when needed most.
“There’s more positives than negatives, but sometimes it just doesn’t bounce your way,” Ellsworth said.
Sam McLawhorn had an RBI single in the fourth to score Kinston’s first run and cut the Jaguars’ lead to 2-1. They tagged starter Taishu McLawhorn for two runs in the third, both off the bat of Matt Riggs, whose two-run double made it 2-0.
Deters relieved McLawhorn after 2 1/3 innings, and stood to get the win until Farmville Central rallied.
The junior right-hander gave up two earned runs on eight hits and struck out four in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Robert Blake went 3-for-4 and Deters and Harrell had two hits each for Kinston, which couldn’t figure out Hamill. The right-hander struck out 12 in the complete-game win.
“It’s not always going to bounce your way, but if you give it everything you’ve got and you’re in the game, that’s all you can do,” Ellsworth said. “We will get a conference win. If we don’t, it will surprise me big time. Every game’s been like this. It just hasn’t bounced our way yet.
“Yet.”
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
Farmville Central 002 001 1—4 12 0
Kinston 000 120 0—3 10 1
Hamill and Peters; T. McLawhorn, Deters (3) and Harrell. W—Hamill. L—Deters.