ROBBINS — Not opening Area 3 Conference play the way it wanted to, the Hamlet American Legion baseball team suffered a one-run loss Tuesday.
Making the move to Area 3 this season, Post 49 had its chances to take care of its debut game on the road against Moore County Post 12.
Playing at North Moore High School, Hamlet dropped a 2-1 decision.
In a classic pitchers’ duel, Hamlet’s Jason Walker (Richmond) went pitch-for-pitch with Austin Patterson (Rockingham Community College).
Both pitchers went the distance. Walker pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits. Striking out six batters, he got into some trouble with two walks and three hit-by-pitches.
Patterson’s line was one unearned run on three hits in seven innings. He struck out nine.
“We beat ourselves tonight,” head coach Chip Gordon said. “There’s no reason why we can’t beat that team. We didn’t make the necessary adjustments at the plate against (Patterson) and both runs they scored were put on base with hit-by-pitches. That’s something we can’t allow to happen.
“Other than that, we played a pretty clean game. Our defense was good and we put the ball in play. We just weren’t able to find that clutch hit when we needed to. We get another chance tomorrow so we’ll see what we can do.”
Patterson retired Hamlet in order through the first three innings and Walker pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the first before stranding a runner at first in the second and another at second base an inning later.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Evan Hodges (Richmond) broke Hamlet into the hit column with a hard ground ball single through the right side of the infield. He got into scoring position two pitches later on a passed ball.
Caden Nolan (Richmond) delivered the game’s first run in the next at-bat. Barreling a 2-1 offering from Patterson, Nolan laced an RBI single into left field to score Hodges and make it 1-0.
Two hit-by-pitches and a single to start the bottom of the fourth loaded the bases for Moore County. A sacrifice fly to John Carre (North Moore) in center field scored the first run.
A head’s up play by Carre helped get a quick second out when he lasered the throw to Nolan at third base, who nabbed a base runner trying to tag up.
With a runner on second and two outs, a bloop single into shallow center field scored the eventual game-winning run.
Catcher Jacob Williams (Union Pines) ended the inning by throwing out a runner trying to swipe second base. There to apply the tag was second baseman Garrett Manning (Scotland).
In the next two innings, Hamlet went down in order in the fifth and stranded a two-out infield single by Manning in the sixth.
Walker, who threw 89 pitches, worked out of a jam with two runners in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the sixth to give Hamlet a chance. He got his final strikeout and left fielder Jabari Douglas (Richmond) hauled in a fly out.
Williams drew a two-out walk in the top of the seventh, but Patterson’s final K of the game ended Hamlet’s comeback attempt.
Now 2-3 this summer and 0-1 in Area 3 play, Hamlet will try to even the series Wednesday when it hosts Moore County Post 12. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Memorial Park.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Tuesday’s game soon.
