HAMLET — A scoreless game through the first four innings Thursday came undone late for the Hamlet American Legion junior baseball team.
Escaping the first four frames by leaving two runners on base each time, Hamlet surrendered a 9-0 loss in six innings (time limit) to Davidson Post 8.
Playing its second game in as many days to start the season, Hamlet recorded four hits — two apiece from Steve James and Noah Stubbs. One of James’ hits went for two bases, the other three for the team were all singles.
Davidson scored six runs on six hits in the top of the fifth and added three more runs in the sixth.
James made his first start of the season and allowed five earned runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings. He walked six batters and struck out four.
Stubbs pitched the final 1.2 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits. He struck out a batter and walked one.
In addition to their four hits, the 49ers drew four base on balls and stranded a total of six runners on base.
“Up until the fifth inning broke out, Steve filled it up early in the game,” assistant coach Bryce Dixon said. “He was able to get a lot of batters with two strikes, but we weren’t finishing the outs. A lot of the runs we allowed were on walks.
“Steve was able to leave runners on base in the first four innings, which is good, but we should have never gotten to that point. We’ve got to finish the outs and clean up our errors.
“We didn’t look bad at the plate,” Dixon continued. “Our approaches were good, and we were able to hit the inside pitch backside tonight. Steve, Noah and Jabari (Douglas) had good at-bats, but as a team we’ve got to hit fastballs and go in more aggressively.”
The Hamlet junior team (0-2) will look for its first win of the season on the road Sunday. Playing at McCrary Park, Post 49 will face Randolph Post 45 Red at 3 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Thursday’s game later this week.
