Post 45 eases past Post 81 in regular season finale

Posted

RAMSEUR — Randolph County tallied three runs with two away in the top of the fourth to overcome a one-run deficit, and behind the pitching of Dawson Davis and a pair of relievers went on to register a 7-1 American Legion Area III Northern Division victory over Eastern Randolph July 1 on Grady Lawson Field.

Defeating Post 81 for the second time in 24 hours to complete a sweep of the season series, the winners clinched the Northern Division regular-season title, improving to 9-2 in the league standings and 23-5 overall, while Eastern Randolph remained mired in the league cellar with a record of 2-9 in the conference and 3-17 for the year.

Davis hurled five innings to obtain the win, allowing four hits and one earned run in addition to walking one and fanning four.

Post 45 reliever Matthew Brewer threw two-thirds of an inning, giving up one hit while issuing one free pass and striking out one before Easton Morgan came on to toss the final one and one-third innings, whiffing four.

“I thought Dawson looked good in only his second start of the year, while all our pitchers did a good job filling the strike zone,” remarked Randolph County coach Ronnie Pugh. “After getting off to a slow start tonight, we finally came up with some quality at-bats in the fourth and strung a few hits together to take the lead and seize the momentum.”

Post 81 starter Travis Boone went five innings on the mound and was saddled with the loss, surrendering nine hits and four earned runs besides walking three and fanning two.

Connor Murphy pitched one inning in relief, yielding three hits and three earned runs while issuing one walk and striking out a pair prior to Clay Edmonson hurling the final frame and giving up a pair of safeties.

“Our season has been like a broken record,” said Eastern Randolph interim coach Brian Heilig. “We keep repeating our mistakes, issuing too many walks and leaving pitches up, while we just aren’t producing hits with people on base. If we could string enough hits together and score early, we might take a little more pressure off our pitchers.”

Post 81 forged a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first when Chris Morgan led off with a single up the middle and came home on Murphy’s one-out double down the left field line.

After Post 45’s Braxton Davis drew a four-pitch free pass leading off the top of the fourth, Boone retired the next two batters on a pop-up and strikeout before Davis stole second and scored on Chris Hardin’s base hit to left prior to the latter moving to second when Bryson Hamlet was hit by a pitch.

Tatum Marsh and Harris Jackson, who both went three-for-four at the plate, followed with back-to-back run-scoring singles to left to put Randolph County ahead 3-1.

Post 45 picked up a solo run in the visitors’ fifth as Braxton Davis doubled to center with one away and tallied on Easton Morgan’s base hit to left.

Randolph County then added three insurance runs in the top of the sixth to account for the final margin.

After Marsh reached on a one-out infield single, Jackson lined a base hit to left and Austin Curry coaxed a full-count walk to load the sacks before Spencer Lanier cleared the ducks off the pond when he smashed a triple into the right field corner.