GARNER - It was an afternoon filled with "Joye" for Durham Post 7, as it proved why it was the class of the Area I Conference on Sunday with a 12-1 drubbing of Warsaw to capture the inaugural Joye Family Invitational American Legion Baseball tournament at Garner's Trojan Park.

Still feeling last year's sting of falling to Clayton deep in the postseason, Post 7 came to play with conviction in the tournament's championship game, needing only four-and-a-half innings to prove its cause and secure the win with a style of play Durham coach Gordon Edwards refers to as "Earl Weaver ball."

"This is the team I've been waiting to show up offensively," said Edwards of his squad, which is brimming with college-level talent and has belted about 30 long balls on the season. "I've felt like we could hit the ball like this all year."

Post 7 has nine players on its roster who currently play or have committed to play college baseball.

Durham will have a bye in the first round of the Area I playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

Bryan Bass, an ECU commit, dinged a two-run homer in the fourth for an 8-1 lead.

Cleanup hitter Blaze Tart, drafted by the Boston Red Sox just two weeks ago, bolstered the offense with three hits and a RBI. Starting pitcher Scott Crane went through four innings, giving up just two hits and striking out six.

"Scott started out in the bullpen for us and has just done really well," Edwards said of the 2009 Riverside High graduate. "He's moved into a starting role and he'll definitely be starting in the playoffs."

Eight of nine players in Durham's lineup reached base as they knocked Warsaw pitcher Jeremy Thomas out of the game early. Zach Bernard's three-run bomb in the fourth gave Post 7 the double-digit lead to put them in place to end it in the fifth with a scoreless frame.

Durham took a shortcut to the first-place trophy, only needing two wins after Wilmington Post 10 backed out of its opening-round game with Post 7. Durham defeated Kernersville, 3-2, on Saturday.

"I've got quite a few guys that played with me last year and we lost in the conference finals to Clayton," said Edwards. "They're hungry. A lot of them realize this is their last shot to play for something meaningful. Their goal is the same as mine. That's to go and win a state championship."

Garner's regular season (14-13, 7-7 Area I West) earned them the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Post 232 will have home field advantage in a five-game series with North Raleigh that starts Tuesday with Games 1, 3 and 5 in Garner. Garner lost both meetings in the regular season against North Raleigh by scores of 16-12 and 4-3.

Post 232 went 1-2 in the tournament, beating Kernersville 13-12 in its final game on Sunday. Paco Martin scored the winning run on an error in the top of the seventh. Daniel Terry went 3-for-4 at the plate with 4 RBI, 3 coming on a home run.

"The thing I was most impressed with is that we were able to hit with those guys," said Garner coach Chris Cook. "Anytime you play a team out of Area III, they can really hit."

After falling to Warsaw on a walk-off double, Benson Post 109 lost 16-8 to Kernersville on Sunday as Kernersville gained the third-place trophy. After beating Garner 9-6 on Friday, Post 109 fell to Raleigh Post 297 13-4 on Sunday in their first game of the day. Benson finished its season 3-13 overall and 2-12 in Area I play.

After topping Clayton on Sunday, Cary wound up with the No. 2 seed and Clayton with the fourth seed. Raleigh Post 1 earned the No. 5 spot with Apex rounding up the playoff bracket at No. 7.