LEXINGTON — The Hamlet American Legion Junior baseball team achieved a program milestone by making its debut playoff appearance Tuesday.
In just its second season since its inception, and after missing the postseason last summer, Post 49 qualified for the Area 3 Conference tournament.
Head coach Robert Smith explained Hamlet finished as the second-place team in the division and made the conference tournament following several other teams dropping out of the season.
Entering the bracket as the No. 4 seed, Post 49 lost its first game 12-2 in six innings to No. 1 Matthews Post 235. The game was played at Holt-Moffitt Field.
Starting on the mound for Hamlet was Colton Nelson, who allowed five earned runs on four hits without recording an out. Noah Stubbs pitched the rest of the first inning and gave up two earned runs on two hits.
Wallace Herring started his relief appearance in the second and went three innings. His line for the night was four runs (two earned) on four hits and seven Ks.
Post 49’s final pitcher of the game was Jackson Parsons. In his first appearance this season, Parsons allowed just one earned run on one hit in 1.2 innings.
Hamlet got on the scoreboard first with its two runs in the top of the first inning. Herring singled to lead off and Julius Bowden moved Herring and himself into scoring position when he doubled in the next at-bat.
Stubbs worked the count full two batters later before barreling a double to right field to score Herring and Bowden to make it a 2-0 lead.
The lead was short lived, however, for Hamlet. Matthews ended the home half of the first inning with six runs to take a four-run lead. Post 235 scored its runs on a single and two doubles.
Matthews tacked on another two runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-2 lead. Runs were scored thanks to a pair of Hamlet errors.
A two-RBI double in the third extended Post 235’s lead to eight runs. One run in the fourth and another in the sixth ended the game early.
Putting the bat on the ball, Hamlet recorded six hits in the loss. Herring led the team with two base hits, while Stubbs and Bowden each doubled. Adding a single apiece were Jaxton Watson and Colson Smith.
The No. 4 Hamlet Juniors (5-13) will look to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament later this week. A game time or opponent were not available at the time of publication.
