ROCKINGHAM — The Hamlet American Legion junior baseball team opened its season Saturday with a loss.
Facing Davidson County Post 8 and playing at Richmond Senior High School, the Junior 49ers fell 7-1.
Despite the loss, first-year head coach Robert Smith said he was pleased with the team’s effort against the reigning Junior Legion state champions.
“This isn’t the way we wanted to start the season, but we scheduled the toughest team we could for the first game to see what we have,” head coach Robert Smith said. “This was an early test and I think we held our own against the reigning state champions.
“There were some bright spots today and we knew it would be a challenge for our younger hitters to make contact against a team that is mostly high school juniors,” he added. “We get another shot at them tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do.”
Making the start on the mound for Hamlet was Noah Stubbs, who threw three innings. He allowed two earned runs on four hits and had two strikeouts.
Wallace Herring tossed three innings of relief with a line of three runs (one earned) on two hits with a K. Throwing the final inning was Colson Smith, who gave up two runs (one earned) with two strikeouts.
Post 8 scored solo runs in the second, third and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead. Two more runs in the top of the sixth put Davidson County ahead 5-0.
Hamlet’s lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Courtesy runner Jakob Trexler, running for catcher Colton Nelson, scored from second base when Drew Gause reached on an error.
The final two runs for Post 8 were scored in the top of the seventh inning. Hamlet went down in order at the plate in the final half-inning.
Post 49 had three hits in the game, including a double by Gause to the corner in left field. Herring and Stubbs each had a single.
The Junior 49ers (0-1) will travel to Davidson County Sunday for another non-conference game. Start time at Holt Moffit Field is set for 3:30 p.m.
