LAURINBURG — East Wake coach Kerry Kincaid said he doesn’t know if his team should’ve won Friday’s first round state playoff game against Scotland County.

He did say he knows the score shouldn’t have been 10-1, Scotland.

“It didn’t go like we hoped it would,” Kincaid said of his Warriors, who finished the season 12-13, 7-7 in the Greater Neuse.

Trouble came early with Parker Roach on the mound. Scotland’s first batter doubled, a single up the middle followed, and on the same play an error allowed the runner to score. After another base hit left runners on first and third with one out, the Scot baserunner stole second, and Scotland’s designated hitter singled to right to drive in two more runs to make the score 3-0 after one inning.

“We just weren’t where we needed to be and it allowed the run to score,” Kincaid said of the rocky start. “It’s hard to give the error to one person because there were several players out of position.”

The second inning yielded little offense for East Wake, and the only offense of the night for big hitters like Jonathan Aparicio, who pulled his one base hit of the game. Scotland closed out the inning after Garrett Johnson hit into a double play.

The Fighting Scots doubled their lead in the bottom of second. With two down, the home team came to the top of its lineup and got a base hit, and then a line drive off Aparicio’s glove at short left runners at first and second. A single sent another run home before Roach hit the next batter to load the bases. Yet another single followed, knocking in two more runs for the 6-0 Scotland lead. Greg Jones then took over the pitching job for the Warriors and managed to erase the final out of the inning.

In the fourth inning, East Wake saw opportunity, but couldn’t put it together. Nate Lusk and Taylor Griswold each singled, but with one out Aparicio and Johnson both struck out, putting a damper on those chances. And in the bottom of the same inning, Scotland continued to add to its lead. A lead-off walk came before a pair of outs, but the fourth batter doubled to knock in another run. Jones, again, ended the inning on another kill.

Kincaid said if the team ever had a better chance at redemption it should’ve been in the fifth after David Lanier lead-off with a single.

Ian Hasbrouck struck out, but Christian Neal singled and Roach was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with only that one out. Wes Luck was walked to bring in the Warriors’ first run of the night, bringing the score to 7-1. That’s when Kincaid said the difference in a close game and a blowout was decided. Lusk took a 2-2 count before hitting a fly ball to the fence.

“Their guy drops it, and the umpire said he caught it,” Kincaid said. “Then they fire in to third at Christian Neal, who tagged up when they said he hadn’t. Basically, it should’ve been 7-2 with Aparicio and Griswold coming to the plate.”

Kincaid said his vision may not be as good as it once was, but he was sitting in disbelief of the call on the field.

“The umpire even told me, ‘You probably had a better angle than me’,” Kincaid said. “Even if he did think he had dropped it, he heard the Scotland players on the bench yelling at their teammates to throw it to third and they called him out. It was just a frustrating time.”

In the bottom of the fifth Grant McGlothlin was brought in to pitch the rest of the game for the Warriors, and although the Scots loaded the bases, East Wake got away clean as McGlothlin nixed the final batter.

The final three runs of the game were scored in the bottom of the sixth with one out and one on. A base hit followed by another walk allowed for two more runs to be scored after a pair of wild pitches. McGlothlin battled back to fan a hitter for the second out, but a single that ensued brought the runner in off third for the 10-1 Scotland final. A grounder back to McGlothlin ended the inning.

Lanier flew out to center to start the top of the seventh. Pinch hitter Sam Winegar got an infield single, but Jones struck out for out No. 2 before Roach reached first on an error at second. The game ended on Shane Egan’s grounder to third, where fielder’s choice forced Winegar out.

“No way in this world should it have been a 10-1 ball game. I’m not going to say we should’ve won, but it should’ve been a much closer ball game,” Kincaid said.

The Warrior coach was displeased with the final showing on the road, but was happy with a season that was much improved from last season.

“We doubled the amount of wins and many have really improved offensively,” he said. “Taylor went from a .150 hitter last year to lead the team this year at .419, Lusk went from .290 to .408, and Aparicio ended up with .408 on the year as well. Plus, Griswold and Lusk had 30 RBIs each.”

Kincaid said the team’s ERA was down this year to 4 from 4.5 last year, and the team’s batting average rose to nearly .300. Last year it was around .280. The group recorded 40 more hits than in last season, six more homers, and team fielding went from .920 to .940.

Four juniors, three sophomores and a freshman, all who played regularly on the varsity team this year, will return to the team next year.

“We’ve got some other good players that will be coming up to varsity that will be able to help. We just have to keep working,” he said.