Like a kid at Christmas, Ronnie Battle got everything he wished for.
He even had a few surprises.
Sammy West went 4-for-5 to lead an offense that produced greatly after figuring to bear little fruit, while Kinston Post 43’s pitching staff did as expected and carried a shutout into the ninth inning for a season-opening 8-1 American Legion win over visiting Duplin-Sampson Post 127 on Wednesday at Viking Field.
“I got a bunch of surprises tonight, and I’m glad for it,” a smiling Battle said. “It’s always good to get off to a good start.”
Caleb Kearney, a 2012 North Lenoir graduate and reliever at Lenoir Community College this spring, gave Battle just the start he projected — five three-hit shutout innings.
Then came Greene Central left-hander Ben Brann with a pair of shutout frames followed by a scoreless inning from South Lenoir’s Wyatt Janning.
Former Kinston High right-hander Crayshawn Belcher, now at Wilson Hunt, was given the ball in the ninth to close things out, and after yielding Post 127’s lone run a quartet of Post 43 pitchers combined to hold Duplin-Sampson to one run on four hits, three walks and six strikeouts.
The single run allowed Battle was counting on. The eight runs his offense gave him he was not.
Ryan Cobb, a former Greene Central outfielder now at LCC, had two hits while seven other Kinston (1-0) batters had a hit each, including a run-through-the-stop-sign-at-second-base triple by Grant Tyndall in the third that led to its first run.
West tripled home Tyndall in the fourth to give a team that figured to have little power three extra-base hits.
Brett Davis doubled home a run in the seventh in his only plate appearance to make it 7-0.
“I got a few surprises just like I was hoping I would,” Battle said. “A couple of (our hits) were at key times. … I was looking for maybe a 4-2 game, 4-1 something like that.
“When we get into the thick of our schedule and play some of the better teams from (the Area I East), I expect the same thing.”
Then there were the players who stepped up big that hadn’t played the game of baseball since legion season ended last summer.
Marc Hamilton, who graduated from North Lenoir last year and does not play college baseball, started behind the plate and was solid defensively, called his own pitches and singled in his first at-bat after seeing very few ABs last season due to an injured wrist.
Parrott Academy graduate Wesley Melvin, who also does not play collegiately, started at second base and had a hit.
Then there were those who did things they haven’t done in a while, like Matt Hinson, a pitcher at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia who hasn’t had a competitive at-bat since last summer yet drove home a run in the eighth on a long fly ball out to left field. Then there’s VeQuain Joyner, an outfielder for Kinston High who turned a key double play playing out of position at second base in the eighth.
From top to bottom and in all phases of the game, Battle got what he expected and more.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” the longtime manager said. “I’m just hoping that it continues to carry on, and I believe it will.”
The 18-man roster, hand-picked by Battle, hadn’t practiced much together before the opener, much less played together. When the team convened Wednesday it was still in the process of figuring out each of its components.
Just a few innings into the season — most of the players hadn’t played in over two weeks — things seemed to be running smoothly.
“Today, it was … kind of awkward, I guess, for the first game,” Hamilton said, referring to a team assembling for the first time. “But once we got in and settled in it was just like last year. And the bats helped too, tonight.”
Notes: Although Post 127 committed four errors all eight of its runs allowed were earned. Jon Wright pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up six runs on seven hits and a walk in the loss. James Britt finished the game for Post 127. He fanned seven. … Hamilton was on the receiving end of an outfield assist by Cobb to gun down Wyman Faison at the plate for the third out in the second. It was Duplin-Sampson’s best scoring opportunity until the ninth. … The game lasted 2 hours, 17 minutes. … It was the first of five in five days for Kinston. It travels to Jacksonville Post 265 today, hosts Jacksonville on Friday in a game moved up from Monday, hosts Jones County Post 154 on Saturday then closes out the stretch with a home game against Area I East foe Elizabeth City Post 84 on Sunday. Post 43 now has an off day on Monday. … Eight players made their Post 43 debuts: Dylan Puchalski, Taishu McLawhorn, Will Deters, West, Joyner, Belcher, Davis and Janning.
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.
Post 127 000 000 001—1 4 4
Post 43 003 300 110—8 13 2
Wright, Britt (4) and Sumner; Kearney, Brann (6), Janning (8), Belcher (9) and Hamilton, Davis (6). W—Kearney. L—Wright.