HAMLET — A three-game winning streak is how the Hamlet American Legion baseball team ended its regular season Thursday.
On “Rally for Riley” night, which raised funds for former player and teammate Riley Brown and his battle with lymphoma, Post 49 dominated Liberty Post 81 for its second win over the same team in as many days.
Efficient pitching and a complete game performance from Caden Nolan (Belmont Abbey College) was helped along by a six-run second inning, which resulted in a 10-0 win in five innings.
The night before, Hamlet steamrolled its way to a 13-1 win. Thursday’s win cemented a season sweep of Hamlet’s Area 3 Conference opponent, having outscored Post 81 23-1 this summer.
Leading 6-0 after the second, with the bases and home plate painted lime green in support of Brown, Hamlet jumped ahead 9-0 with three runs in the third. One more run in the fourth led to the mercy-rule victory.
Nolan sat down a dozen Liberty batters via the punchout, as he held Post 81 to just three hits. The first inning was a 1-2-3 frame for Nolan, who struck out two of the first three batters to start the game.
Facing four batters in the second, Nolan left one runner on base and picked up two Ks. He struck out the side again in the third inning, this time leaving two runners in scoring position.
Another four-batter inning in the fourth yielded two more Ks. Closing the door in the fifth, Nolan worked out of a two-on, no-out jam without allowing a run. He struck out consecutive batters for the first two outs with runners on the corners.
Following a walk to load the bases, Nolan recorded his final strikeout of the night to end the game.
Sending 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, Hamlet began its scoring when Maddox Locklear (Richmond) poked an opposite-field single into right field. Scoring from second base was Bradley Hogan (Christ the Cornerstone Academy), who was hit by a pitch and swiped a bag.
A free pass to Noah Stubbs (Richmond) put two runners on base and in the next at-bat, Nate Culbreth (Richmond) connected for the first of his two hits. Culbreth’s line drive to center field scored Hogan to make it 2-0.
Loading the bases with a smooth bunt single, still with no outs and one of 12 hits for Hamlet, was Julius Bowden (Richmond).
Evan Hodges (Lenoir Community College) extended the lead to 3-0 with an RBI liner back up the middle to score Stubbs. An error by the center fielder on the same play allowed Culbreth to race home and give Hamlet a four-run lead.
Miken Concepcion (Christ the Cornerstone Academy) kept the inning going with a bunt single, which reloaded the bases. Ending the high-scoring inning was Drew Gause (Richmond), who recorded both of his RBI in the game, with a base knock to right field.
Gause’s hit scored Bowden and courtesy runner Jabari Douglas (Johnson & Wales University) to make it 6-0.
After Nolan escaped the top of the third by leaving runners on second and third, Hamlet padded its lead with three more runs.
With two outs, Culbreth singled and stole second base. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Bowden reached on an error.
A stolen base for Bowden, coupled with a throwing error, moved him all the way to third base. That allowed Hodges to record the second of his team-high three hits in the game, this one an RBI single to center, which scored Bowden.
With Douglas back in to run for Hodges, he swiped second and scored to make it 9-0 when Concepcion singled to left field.
Nolan stranded a one-out single with a pair of Ks in the top of the fourth.
Hogan started the home half of the fourth with a bang, as his line drive to left field burned the outfielder and rolled all the way to the fence for a leadoff stand-up triple. Two batters later, Stubbs recorded an RBI single to plate Hogan and make it 10-0.
Post 81 used a hit-by-pitch, a throwing error and a single to put runners on the corners with no outs to start the fifth. Nolan recorded consecutive Ks to the next two batters to alleviate some of the pressure.
A two-out walk by Nolan to load the bases was erased when he threw a three-pitch strikeout for the final out.
With the win, Hamlet finished the regular season with a 5-7 overall record and a 5-7 mark against Area 3 Conference opponents.
Up next, Post 49 will compete in the Area 3 Conference playoffs. No. 5 Hamlet will face No. 4 Chatham Post 305 in a best-of-three-game series.
Game one will be played Monday on the road at Jordan-Matthews High School. The expected start time is 7 p.m.
