HAMLET — The Hamlet Post 49 baseball team returned to action after a week off Tuesday, hosting non-conference Fort Mill Post 43 at Memorial Park.
A big top of the fifth inning by Fort Mill put the game out of reach, resulting in an 18-0 loss in five innings for Hamlet and head coach Chip Gordon.
Facing starting pitcher Jake Boyna, Post 49 registered just two hits in the game. David O’Neal beat an infield single to short in the third inning and Joshua Lomax lined a single up the middle in the fourth.
“We scheduled this game to get some guys who hadn’t been playing a whole lot some more experience,” Gordon explained. “But that wasn’t an excuse for the lack of enthusiasm we had from the get-go.
“We just came out flat and played flat from the second inning on,” he added. “When you do that against a good team, you’re going to give up a lot of runs. Post 43 hit the ball hard, we made too many mistakes and walked too many batters.”
Fort Mill scored two runs in the first, five runs in the third and broke the game open with 11 runs on eight hits in the fifth. Post 43 had 15 total hits, including a grand slam by Aaron Pendergast.
Hamlet used four pitchers in the game, who combined to walk 12 batters. Starting was Josh Griggs, who went one inning and allowed two runs on one hit and struck out three batters. He stranded the bases loaded to end the first.
Harley Honeycutt tossed 1.2 innings of relief and was replaced after 60 pitches to keep him eligible for later in the week. He gave up five runs (three earned) on four hits and struck out one.
Inheriting the bases loaded with two outs, Heins got out of the third on a grounder back to the mound. He went 1.1 innings, allowed five runs (four earned) on three hits. Griggs, Honeycutt and Heins each walked four batters.
Closing out the final inning was Kenneth Brown, who also inherited the bases loaded, but with no outs. He surrendered six earned runs on seven hits and struck out one batter.
“Antonio came in and pitched very well, I was pleased with how he threw the ball tonight,” Gordon said. “He held them for as long as we needed him to and we were out of it at that point, but he did his job and I couldn’t have asked for more.
“Kenneth filled the strike zone up and threw strikes, but unfortunately they just put the bat on the ball a little bit,” he continued. “We were outplayed tonight — that’s the gist of the game.”
Post 49 has a busy week leading up to the Area 2 tournament, which will feature a play-in game on Friday against Hampstead Post 167. Tuesday’s game and another non-conference game Thursday are being used to help gear Hamlet up for a hopeful postseason run.
“We are going to use these two non-conference games to get guys in, see some more at-bats and try to get tuned up for Hampstead. The winner of that game advances in the playoffs, so we’re hoping the cards fall in our favor.”
Post 49 (1-10) will close its regular season at home against Florence Post 1 on Thursday at 7 p.m.
