Smithfield — After rolling through the Area 1 Western Division playoffs, the Johnston County-based Post 71 American Legion baseball team was caught looking ahead on Tuesday night.

The team was thinking about next week's N.C. Senior State Tournament. But what the Sabres overlooked was the first game of the Area 1 championship series against Eastern Division champion Wayne County Post 11.

Wayne County made the Sabres pay for the oversight, taking the first game of the best-of-three series 9-7 at home.

The series, which not only determines the Area 1 champion, but the seeds for next week's state tournament in Gastonia, now moves to Southern Wayne High School. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. today (Wednesday).

If Wayne County prevails, the Sabres will be the area's No. 2 seed next week. Should Post 71 triumph, the series returns to Smithfield-Selma High School at 7 p.m. on Thursday for the deciding game.

Post 71's problems stemmed from looking ahead to next week, said head coach Vic Bird.

"I don't think we came mentally prepared tonight," Bird said. "We had a lot of things, particularly the state tournament, on our minds. I don't think they had Wayne County on their minds to get the job done tonight. But I'm not making excuses."

Wayne County, the state runner-up last season, improved to 23-5 by taking combining an 11-hit attack with four Post 71 errors to break open a 4-4 stand-off, building a 9-4 ninth-inning lead.

Wayne County manufactured two sixth-inning runs to take a 6-4 lead, putting together a single by Jay Rose, a walk, a wild pitch and a wild throw from losing pitcher Kyle Cummings.

Post 11 extended the lead to 7-4 in the eighth on the strength of two Sabre errors and a single by Alex Casey.

The lead reached 9-4 on a lead-off homer by Jay Wooten, his second of the night, a walk to Rose, and an RBI-double by Zach Wright.

Post 71 rallied in the ninth, as Evan Harbinson drew a lead-off walk, and Drew Alford blasted a two-run homer, his second two-run shot of the night.

Alford's first blast, which followed a Harbinson double in the fourth, produced a 4-4 tie.

The Sabres, who dipped to 18-10 as they saw their eight-game winning streak snapped, continued their ninth-inning rally when Brian Mills drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a walk to Blake Murray.

Cummings singled to load the bases, and Colin Parker kept the rally going with a single to short right, scoring Mills.

But the rally died when starting pitcher Justin Diener grounded to third, forcing Murray at the plate and Jeff Citero fanned to end the game.

"We started out OK," Bird said. "And we finished strong as usual. But just in the middle of the game, we went through the motions. We made bad throws with two outs, just by not being smart baseball-wise."

Both teams, known for their offensive prowess, started strong. Wayne used three singles to plate a pair of the first, and added Rose's first homer in the third for a 3-2 lead and a manufactured run in the fourth, extending the margin to 4-2.

The Sabres, who out-hit Wayne 14-11, put together three hits in the first to trim the deficit to 2-1, and a one-out homer by Harbinson forged a 2-2 tie.

Post 71 had five batters with multiple hits, led by Mills, who finished 3-for-5. Alford had a 2-for-5 night with four RBIS, while Harbinson was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

Others with multiple-hit nights for Post 71 were Cummings and Parker, both 2-for-5.

Wayne County was led by Wooten's 3-for-5 night with three runs scored, while Rose was 2-for-4, and Nolan Hollowell also 2-for-4.

"I'm not taking anything away from Wayne County," Bird said. "But I think they're beatable. We had an off-night, and we'll try to go get then tomorrow.

"Then we'll try to get mentally ready for the state tournament."