Post 70 ends classic 3-0

Published 3:00 am Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Troy Post 70 finished off the Riddle-Pace Classic on Sunday afternoon with a 4-0 win over Birmingham Baseball’s 16U squad.

The Riddle-Pace Classic was designed to showcase the best high school baseball players in the state. Post 70 finished the tournament with a 3-0 record.

Post 70 finished with two shutouts and outscored their opponents 22-1. Head coach Rush Hixon hopes his team’s performance will carry over into the rest of the American Legion season.

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“I really hope it carries over into this weekend,” Hixon said. “I told them before we played that we are going to take the first four games as practice games. I told them to start now and get on a winning streak. They took that challenge and ran with it.

“I think they are settling in with themselves and with me. I don’t think there is anywhere else to go but up from here. I was proud of the guys for how well they played.”

On Sunday against Birmingham, Post 70 was able to scatter eights hits and produce runs when needed to hold to get the win.

“Credit to their pitcher,” Hixon said. “He was a soft lefty and didn’t throw hard, but he kept us off balance. We couldn’t get our timing down. We scattered eight hits so we hit the ball well, just not in a bunch.”

Bradley Brown got the win. The Holtville native pitched six innings of one-hit baseball and struck out seven batters.

“He was really good,” Hixon said. “That is what I expected from him from the beginning. We knew he was going to give us good outings every time he went in and this was no different. He was tight early on, but after the second inning, I was planning on getting some other guys some work, but the way he worked and filled up the zone I couldn’t do it.”

Two of the RBIs came from Hunter Jones, the third and final RBI came from DJ Law. Post 70 had one unearned run.

Post 70 will be back in action when they host the Wiregrass Cardinals at 7 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field.