RAMSEUR — In its penultimate regular season game, the Hamlet Junior American Legion baseball team suffered a mercy-rule loss Tuesday.
Closing its two-game series with Chatham Post 305, Hamlet lost the Area 3 Conference meeting 12-2 in six innings.
Post 305 led 6-0 after the first inning, which was answered by Hamlet’s two runs in the top of the second.
Chatham added two runs in the second frame to lead 8-2. The home team scored a pair of runs in both the fourth and sixth frames to take a 10-run advantage.
Post 49 was held to just five hits in the loss. Cooper Perkins had a double, while Willie Hooks, Riley Fields, Jeffery Dieffenbach and Noah Trexler each collected a base hit.
Dieffenbach and Trexler were responsible for Hamlet’s scoring, finishing with one run batted in apiece.
Starting on the mound was Jackson Parsons, who pitched five innings. His line was 10 runs (four earned) on 10 hits with four strikeouts.
Throwing two-thirds of an inning of relief was Hooks, who allowed two earned runs and had one strikeout.
Hamlet’s pitchers combined to walk seven batters and the defense committed six errors in the field.
Both of Post 49’s runs came with one out in the second. Dieffenbach lined an RBI single to center field to get Hamlet on the board, which scored Hooks (error).
Texler followed in the next at-bat with an opposite-field RBI single to right field, bringing home Fields (fielder’s choice) to make it a 6-2 game.
The Hamlet Junior 49ers (3-7, 1-7 Area 3) will close their regular season on the road Thursday at Liberty Post 81. The game will be held at Eastern Randolph High School and start at 7 p.m.
Sports editor's note: Game information and statistics provided by Hamlet's GameChanger.
