Williamsburg Post 39’s American Legion baseball team moved two wins away from clinching its fourth straight District 3 regular-season title after sweeping a doubleheader against Poquoson Post 273 on Monday night.
After defeating Poquoson 11-1 on Thursday to boost its unbeaten record to 9-0, Williamsburg Post 39’s magic number was four to secure the crown and lock up the No. 1 seed in the District 3 tournament.
They chopped that number in half Monday with a pair of victories in which they outscored host Poquoson a combined 26-3 in 12 innings.
Post 39 can earn the right to host the district tournament with wins this week against Middlesex Post 241 today and Hampton Post 31 — the only team in the district with four losses and a mathematical chance at catching Post 39 — on Thursday.
In Game 1, Michael Brumfield pitched five innings and gave up one run while striking out eight to pick up his third win of the summer as Post 39 cruised to a 15-1 win.
Offensively, eight of the nine players in Post 39’s lineup drove in at least one run led by Griffin Colorado with four RBI.
Colorado sparked the decisive third inning in which Post 39 put seven runs on the board to take an 8-0 lead with a one-out double that scored Liam Lowery and Mikey Anerton.
Post 39 pushed five more runs across in the fourth and two in the top of the fifth to take a 15-1 lead before the game ended early via mercy rule.
Game 2 was just as one-sided as Post 39 went ahead 10-1 after four innings before holding on to win 11-2.
Post 39 got another strong pitching performance, this time from Blake Otey, who pitched all seven innings and allowed two runs while racking up 10 strikeouts.
“Blake was just dominant,” Post 39 coach Tom Richardson said. “[Post 273 hitters] were just whiffing at his curveball all night.”
Post 39’s offense, which scored 10 runs or more for the fifth consecutive game, also remained red hot, scoring 11 runs on 11 hits.
Anerton led the way going 2-3 with a double and three RBI while Lowery drove in two runs for the second game in a row. Tyler Klinedinst, Matt Smith and Collan Cryts also plated runs to aid Post 39’s offense.
George Mason University-bound Trevor Kelly recorded multiple hits and drove in a run each game to lead Poquoson Post 273.
Game 1
Post 39- 107;52 – 15 11 0
Post 273- 001;00 – 1 5 2
WP: Brumfield (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 8 SO)
LP: Hoepfner
Post 39 (10-0)- 2-4 (3B, 3 runs, 4 RBI), Brumfield 2-5 (2B, 2 runs, RBI), Anerton 2-5 (run, RBI), Countiss 2-4 (run, RBI)
Pos 273- Jackson 1-2 (RBI), Kelly 1-2 (run)
Game 2
Post 39 11 Poquoson Post 273 2
Post 39- 150;401;0 – 11 11 0
Post 273- 001;001;0 – 2 8 2
WP: B. Otey (7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 10 SO)
LP: N. Hornung
Post 39 (11-0)- Klinedinst 2-2 (2 runs, RBI), Lowery 2-2 (2 runs, 2 RBI), Anerton 2-3 (2B, 3 RBI), Smith 2-3 (3B, 2 runs, RBI)
Post 273- Kelly 2-4 (RBI), Hoffman 1-3 (RBI), Beacham 2-3
