SANFORD — Getting back in the win column Tuesday, the Hamlet American Legion Junior baseball team did so in a big way.
Ending a two-game skid, the Junior 49ers mercy-ruled Pittsboro Post 283 by a final score of 11-1 seven innings.
Playing at the Lee County Athletic Park, Hamlet trailed by a run after the second inning but took the lead for good with two runs in the third.
A six-run fifth inning broke the game open for Post 49, which added two insurance runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh frame.
Three pitchers combined to limit Post 283 to just one run – starter Noah Trexler and relievers Jeffery Dieffenbach and Colton Trexler.
Noah Trexler pitched 3.1 innings and allowed an unearned run on two hits and collected six strikeouts.
Dieffenbach put up a zero in the run column over 2.2 innings of work, giving up just two hits and adding three Ks. Colton Trexler finished the final inning with no runs, no hits and one punchout.
Consecutive one-out singles by Jaxton Watson, Jackson Parsons and Drew Moree in the top of the third inning led to Hamlet taking the lead. Stepping in with the bases loaded, Willie Hooks lined a two-RBI base knock to center to score Watson and Parsons.
Hamlet again loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth. Jake Smith added to the lead with an RBI single to center, which scored Hooks (walk). Also scoring on the sequence thanks to an error by the center fielder was Riley Fields (walk) to make it 4-1.
Still with one away, Cooper Perkins and Emery Owens each connected for an RBI single to pad the lead. Noah Wilson (single) and Smith scored, respectively, to put Hamlet ahead by five runs.
The final two runs of the inning, which made it an 8-1 advantage, were scored on an error and a double steal.
Moree (single) and Hooks (error) both scored an inning later thanks to a pair of errors in the field by Pittsboro.
Leading 10-1 in the top of the seventh, Hamlet scored its final run of the game when Watson (walk) scored on a wild pitch. Colton Trexler pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half to end the game.
Hooks’ two RBI were a team high, while Smith, Perkins, Owens and Colton Cooke each had one RBI. Smith and Moree led the offense with two hits apiece.
Hamlet (2-2, 1-1 Area 3) returns to conference action Saturday with a home game against Moore County Post 12. Action is slated for 1 p.m.
