ASHEBORO — Bryson Hamlet and a pair of relievers limited Eastern Randolph to four hits while Randolph County led from start to finish as Post 45 earned a 7-3 American Legion Area III Northern Division victory Sunday night at McCrary Park.
Capturing its seventh conference victory in a row, league-leading Randolph County improved to 8-2 against Division foes and 22-5 for the season, while Post 81 sank to 2-8 in the league standings and 3-16 overall.
Hamlet went five innings on the mound to achieve the win, allowing three hits and a pair of runs (one earned) while walking one and fanning two.
Matthew Brewer tossed one inning in relief, giving up one hit plus an unearned run while striking out one before Travis Winslow retired the side in order in the seventh.
“We looked okay tonight but we weren’t as aggressive as we’ve been our last couple of games,” said Post 45 assistant coach Andrew Conner. “We jumped out to an early lead by hitting good pitches, and we’re trying to let some of our young kids work through their mistakes in the field.”
Eastern Randolph starter Mason Canoy hurled five innings and experienced the loss after surrendering nine hits and all seven Randolph County runs (six earned) while issuing four free passes and whiffing one prior to Clay Edmonson pitching one inning of hitless relief.
“I’ll bet 85 percent of the runs we’ve given up this year have come in the first two or three innings, and we can’t be as aggressive on the bases as we’d like when we have to play from behind,” said interim Post 81 coach Brian Heilig. “While Post 45 has the ability to 10-run you, I thought we battled hard tonight and Canoy kept us in the game, but we’ve got to do a better job at the plate with runners in scoring position.”
Randolph County opened up a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the first as Harris Jackson and Austin Curry drew back-to-back leadoff walks, with the former coming in to score when Braxton Davis lined a one-out single up the middle that sent Curry to third before Easton Morgan belted a two-run double up the alley in left-center.
Eastern Randolph closed the gap to 3-1 in the top of the third as Jacob Underwood slapped an opposite-field base hit to right with one away, advanced to second on a groundout and scored one out later when Christopher Morgan doubled to left.
Post 45 answered with a pair of runs in its half of the frame to boost its lead to 5-1 as Curry was issued a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third on a fly-out and tallied when Davis drilled a base hit up the middle.
Davis then advanced all the way to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored when Easton Morgan notched a single up the middle.
Randolph County elevated its advantage to 7-1 in the home fourth as Curry slugged a two-out opposite-field double off the left field fence before Spencer Lanier launched a first-pitch offering from Canoy over the fence in right for his first round-tripper of the season.
Post 81 trimmed the margin to 7-2 in the visitors’ fifth as Underwood reached on a one-out infield error, went to second when Travis Boone drew a free pass and came in to score on Christopher Morgan’s base hit to left.
Eastern Randolph accounted for the game’s final run in the top of the sixth as Edmonson reached on a one-out infield error, moved to third on Samuel Murchison’s opposite-field single to right and scored on a groundout by Andrew Poteat.