Pacific Post 320 capped a solid Freshmen Legion baseball regular season with a victory Tuesday over Central.
Post 320 (13-3, 11-3) held the lead throughout the contest in a 10-0 win in five innings at C&H Park.
“It was a one-sided game the whole way,” said Post 320 Coach Cody Kelley. “We continued to swing the bats well. A lot of different guys are hitting the ball for us. And we had a well-pitched game.”
Ryan Ray, who will be a freshman this fall, pitched all five innings for Post 320 to earn the win.
Ray allowed no runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
“Ryan doesn’t walk many batters. He has good control. He’s probably walked two batters all year in around 15 innings,” Kelley said. “He let’s his defense work behind him. Our defense had a good game. We didn’t have any errors.”
Pacific scored two runs in the top of the first inning, two in the second, five in the third and one in the fifth.
Leading the offensive attack for Post 320 was Dalton Mathis, who was 3-3 at the plate with four RBIs and one run scored.
Eain Roberts also had four RBIs and one run scored, going 2-4 at the plate
Ryan Howell, Drew Fonner, L.B. Smith and Ray each added one hit. Smith and Ray both scored one run.
Alex Rice walked three times and had one RBI.
“We hope to have Hunter Finney back for us in time for the district tournament,” Kelley said. “He has his cast off after breaking his hand. At the very least, we can use him as a pinch runner. He has to be the fastest kid in the district.”
After breaking his nose by a foul ball while sitting in the dugout last weekend against Washington, Pacific’s Nick Hogan suffered another freak injury Tuesday night. He was hit in the head by a ball while Central was taking infield practice before the game.
“Nick already has a broken nose and now he has to deal with this. You have to feel bad for him,” Kelley said. “The doctor said it was a minor concussion. He should be ready to go for the district tournament.”
Kelley is pleased with the season Post 320 has put together.
“We had a good regular season with a 13-3 record,” Kelley said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to play well in the district tournament.”
Pacific is seeded second behind Washington in the Ninth District Tournament, which will be played at Ronsick Field in Washington.
Post 320 opens the tournament against seventh-seeded Elsberry Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
“Washington and us are the top two seeds. Everyone else has kind of beat each other up,” Kelley said. “There are some good teams in the district. It should be a good tournament.”
The winner of the district tournament advances to the state tournament July 18-22 in Branson.
