HAMLET — Scoring the majority of its runs early in Monday’s game helped the Hamlet American Legion Junior baseball team return to the win column.
Snapping a two-game skid, the Junior 49ers completed the season sweep of Pittsboro Post 283.
Scoring eight runs across the first two innings, Post 49 went on to win by a final score of 11-5.
Two runs in the first inning and a six-run second inning put Hamlet up 8-1. Both teams scored two runs in the fourth inning.
A solo run in the fifth gave Hamlet an 11-3 lead before Pittsboro scored its final two runs in the sixth.
Pitching by platoon, Hamlet used three pitchers in the win. Chase Baker made the start and allowed three earned runs in three innings on two hits with two strikeouts.
Noah Wilson made his pitching debut this summer with two innings of relief. He kept Pittsboro scoreless on two hits. Closing the door in the final two innings was Jeffery Dieffenbach, who struck out five batters and allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits.
Trailing 1-0 to start the bottom of the first, Hamlet used an RBI single by Emery Owens to tie the game. Jake Smith, who led off with a walk, scored to make it 1-1.
Cooper Perkins (single) scored and gave Hamlet a 2-1 lead when an errant pickoff attempt to first rattled around shallow right field.
A four-batter top of the second inning by Baker led to Hamlet’s breakout six-run second stanza.
A one-out RBI single by Smith started things off to bring home Riley Fields (error). Owens recorded his second RBI when he hit a sacrifice fly, which plated Baker (single).
With the bases loaded, Jaxton Watson kept his bat dialed in for the second straight game. Recording his second consecutive three-RBI game, Watson doubled to left field and brought in all three runners to give Hamlet a 7-1 advantage.
Capping the big inning was a sacrifice fly by Colton Trexler, which scored Watson, putting Post 49 up by seven runs for its largest lead of the game.
Pittsboro chipped away at the deficit with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Hamlet responded with two more runs in the home half.
Post 49 loaded the bases with one out thanks to an Owens double, an error off the bat of Drew Moree and a walk drawn by Dean Cottle. Jackson Parsons scored Owens on an RBI base hit to right field.
Fields stepped in for the next at-bat and grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice, scoring Moree to make it 10-3.
Hamlet’s final run of the game scored thanks to three errors, which allowed Smith (walk) to move around the bases and cross home plate.
The Junior 49ers (3-4, 1-4 Area 3) return to the diamond Sunday.
