Post 70 continues strong stretch with series sweep
Published 5:54 pm Monday, July 20, 2020
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With one more weekend remaining in the season, American Legion Post 70 head coach Rush Hixon believes his team is playing it’s best stretch of baseball.
Post 70 wrapped up a four-game sweep of Ozark on Saturday when they won both games of a double header 12-0 and 11-0.
Logan Ross got the start in game one and pitched all five innings. He gave up one hit and struck out four batters. Grayson Stewart got the start in game two and pitched five innings before giving way to Maddux Herring.
Stewart finished with three hits with two RBI and two runs scored in game one, while Don Williams and Coleman Wright each had three hits in game two.
The two wins on Saturday bring Post 70’s record to 23-4 on the season.
“I’ll go out on an limb and say this is the best stretch of baseball we have played in my years associated with Post 70,” Hixon said. “After losing two in a row in Dothan, we have won eight or nine straight. I’m pleased with where we are. I challenged them after the two losses to come back with a different mentality and they answered the call.”
Post 70 outscored Ozark 37-3 during their four-game sweep. They have outscored their opponents 81-8 in their last nine games.
“That is just absurd,” Hixon said. “The first words that come to mind is that we have been dominant. We preach to them about not worrying about the opponent but to take care of business. We are having pitchers compete with each other and hitters competing to see who has the most hits. Once you get to that level of competition internally, the opponents are irrelevant.”
Although the offense outscored opponents by 73 runs, Hixon is just as impressed with his team’s pitching.
“When you see a huge number everyone looks to offense,” Hixon said. “Seven runs (allowed) in that amount of games is unbelievable.”
Like other teams, Post 70’s roster is full of players that didn’t get to finish their 2020 high school baseball season. After a quick turnaround, Post 70 transitioned right into summer baseball and is currently having one of their strongest seasons in recent memory.
“It’s been incredible,” Hixon said. “We didn’t think we were going to have nearly as many games or travel as much as we have been able to. I owe a ton of credit to our players and our families. This has been one of the easiest summers to get kids to show up to the park. As a coaching staff you can’t ask for much more than that. I have been extremely proud of this group and it’s been really fun to be associated with them.”