EDENTON – Ahoskie Post 102 defeated Edenton Post 40 by a final of 17-3 in a junior American Legion game Friday night.

Ahoskie opened the scoring with five runs in the top of the second stanza.

Ackerman Grace walked, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored when A.J. Liverman singled to center. Stephen Umphlett then walked and Everette Sawyer was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Liverman and Umphlett came home on a Tyler Jones two-run double. Sawyer then raced home on a wild pitch.

Eric Ortiz drew a walk and Bryan Merritt was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. The final run of the inning came when Tyler Small drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-0.

Edenton responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to close the gap to 5-2.

Post 102 continued its scoring ways with four more in the top of the third inning.

Austin Hurdle and Liverman were each hit by a pitch and Umphlett had a bunt single to load the bases. Sawyer laced a two-run single to right which brought home Hurdle and Liverman. Umphlett and Sawyer followed them home when Ortiz singled to center to make it 9-2.

Ahoskie continued to add to their lead with three more in the top of the fourth frame.

Hurdle singled to left and moved all the way to third on a Liverman single to right. Hurdle then scored on an Umphlett RBI-single.

With one out, Sawyer singled and, after another out, Ortiz singled. Merritt then had a two-run double to make it 12-2.

Edenton wouldn’t quit, however, as they scored one run in the bottom of the fourth to close within 12-3.

Ahoskie’s final five runs came in the top of the fifth.

Grace singled to left before Hurdle and Umphlett drew walks to load the bases.

Sawyer drew a bases-loaded walk to score Grace before Hurdle raced home on a wild pitch. Jones then had an RBI-single, Ortiz did the same and Merritt had a sacrifice fly to make it 17-3.

Ahoskie had 14 hits during the contest led by Ortiz, who had three. Sawyer, Jones, Liverman and Umphlett had two hits. Sawyer, Jones, Ortiz and Merritt had three RBIs each.

Liverman pitched two innings allowing two runs on two hits and struck out two. Ortiz pitched three innings allowing one run on three hits. He struck out one.

“We came out hitting the ball well tonight,” Post Head Coach Brandon Matthews said. “Both pitchers did a good job. We will try to keep this momentum going.”

Ahoskie is now 11-9.