Wallace legion post drops doubleheader
Wallace Post 156 lost a doubleheader at Morehead City Post 46 last Wednesday night, dropping the first game 8-4 and the second game 13.0.
The first game was one the Wallace team could have won. Post 156 jumped out to a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half.
In the top of the first, centerfielder Jahron Johnson homered to center field, giving Wallace a 1-0 lead.
Wallace runner Graham Walker slides back into third base during first-game action in Morehead City.
After Morehead City left a runner stranded on third base in the bottom of the first, Wallace plated three more runs in the top of the second. Graham Walker doubled to left field and then moved to third on an error by the pitcher on a batted ball by Matt Giddings. Pitcher Brett Kennedy knocked in both runners with a triple. Kennedy scored on a single by Jeremy Thomas.
Post 46 began chipping away at the lead.
In the bottom of the second, Morehead City cut the lead to 4-1. C.C. Wright led off the second with a single. Robert Olewine reached on a fielder’s choice and was knocked in by a double by Mason Comola.
While Wallace’s bats were quiet for rest of the game, Morehead City’s offense produced seven runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings.
Ryan Cranmer led off the third with a triple followed by Dalton Knight’s triple that plated Cranmer. Knight scored on an error by second baseman Brett Young for Wallace. At the end of three, Wallace still clung to a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Morehead City erupted for five runs. Damon Hoggard led off the fourth with a walk. Chris Linoher reached on another error that scored Hoggard. Cranmer was hit by a pitch and Johnathan Campbell plated both runs with a double. Wright hit a homerun to left to score Campbell.
“That one inning really killed us,” Wallace Coach Kevin Hager said. “We have to continue to do the little things right and make the routine plays. Baseball is a game that rewards you for playing hard and taking pride in doing the little stuff right. We also have to cut down on the errors and unearned runs. When we don’t play good defense, pitchers tend to nibble a little more for corners trying to throw to strikeouts instead of ground-ball outs. This was a great Morehead City Club and we let them take the 1st game from us.”
Kennedy, who is credited with Wallace’s 10-9 win over Jones County Post 132 on June 2, took the loss. He worked all seven inning, striking out five and walking six. Of the eight runs he surrendered, only three were earned.
“Brett threw good enough to win the ball game,” Hager said. “He walked a few more guys than we would like to have seen but he bore down when he needed to with only two of the walked batters scoring.”
Ryan Springle for Morehead threw a complete game, striking out 10 and walking two. He gave up seven hits and surrendered four runs with two earned.
For Wallace, Johnson was 1-for-3 with a homerun; Brailey Jones, 2-for-4; Walker, 1-for-3; Kennedy, 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs, and Thomas, 1-for-4 with an RBI.
For Morehead City, Wright was 2-for-4 with a homerun; Canmer, 1-for-2 with a triple; Knight, 1-for-4 with a triple, and Comola, 1-for-2.
Game Two
Wallace fell behind by seven runs after two innings. Post 156 starting pitcher Brett Young pitched two and one-third innings, giving up nine runs, eight hits and four walks. He struck out four. Jeremy Thomas pitched the last one and two-third innings, giving up four runs, four hits and four walks. He struck out two.
For Morehead City, Cranmer, Knight and Campbell accounted for nine runs. Wallace couldn’t keep them off the base paths.
The game was shortened by the 10-run rule.
“Once again, errors and walks plagued us as we made three errors and walked eight in a four-inning game,” Hager said. “Once again, we have to focus on making the routine plays. We can’t afford to give good teams four and five5 outs an inning as they will and did make us pay for our mistakes tonight. We have to try and get a handle on our walks as well. I still think this is partly due to the defensive efforts we are giving our starting pitchers. We are about to roll into a big stretch of playing. Our games have been somewhat sporadic thus far so hopefully when we start playing every night we can work to cut down on our mistakes. We’re home Monday and Tuesday night next week, and travel to Jacksonville on Wednesday and Wilmington on Friday night.”
The leading hitter for Wallace was Brett Young, 1-for-2.
For Morehead City, Dalton Knight was 3-for-4 with three runs scored; Wright, 2-for-4; Campbell, 3-for-4 with a homerun and three runs scored, and Cranmer, 1-for-4 with three runs scored.
Morehead pitcher Mason Gromola pitched a complete game shutout (four innings due to 10-run rule). He struck out eight and walked two.
The two losses leave Wallace Post 156 with a 1-4 record.
