TRENTON — It was the game one coach feared and the other team needed.
Due to exams and graduation Kinston Post 43 had not set foot on a baseball field in a week, and the rust showed against a Jones County Post 154 team that was playing its first game with its full complement of players.
When the smoke cleared Sunday night at Trojan Field, Jones County had claimed a 12-3 victory, bashing 11 hits and taking advantage of five Post 43 errors.
“We were sloppy and out of sync,” Post 43 coach Ronnie Battle said. “I was afraid we might play this way, having not taken part in any baseball activities at all since last Sunday.”
Jones coach Ricky Metts, on the other hand, finally got a chance to glimpse the future, and he liked what he saw.
“We’ve battled injuries and had guys playing out of position,” said Metts, whose team improved to 2-5 with the victory. “Tonight was the first time we’ve had everybody healthy. We really wanted this win and played like I knew were capable.”
Jones played so well that it was one out away from a mercy-rule shortened rout in the seventh inning.
Trailing 12-2, Kinston got a single from VeQuain Joyner, a walk to Will Deters, and an RBI base hit by Grant Tyndall to push across the one run necessary to keep playing.
“I guess the best thing about this game is that we kept playing,” Battle said. “We trailed 12-0 and were down to our last out in the seventh but kept fighting. By playing those final two innings I was able to get some pitchers some extra work after the layoff.”
Post 43 used five pitchers total without much luck. Jones pushed across a run in the third and then exploded for seven more in the fourth, courtesy of four hits and three errors.
Kyle Gaskins doubled in a pair for Post 154 and Christian Hiesey added a run-scoring single. Blake Toler and Jake Villabona also contributed RBI’s in the inning for Jones.
Gaskins singled in another run in the fifth as Post 154 turned the contest into a debacle with four more runs. Logan Nobles also plated a run with a double, another run scored on a wild pitch, and the final marker reached home on Post 43’s fifth error of the night.
“We hit the ball hard in those two innings and took advantage of their mistakes,” Metts said. “We came into this game tonight with a better attitude and more effort than we did up there (a 15-5 loss at Kinston on June 1).”
Although Kinston matched Jones in the hit column (11), Battle concurred that his team couldn’t match Post 154’s intensity level.
“They played hard and you could tell they wanted to beat us,” Battle said. “We played hard also, but it just took us so long to get in a grove, that by the time we did it was too late.”
Sammy West collected four hits for Post 43, while Tyndall singled three times and walked in five trips. Dylan Puchalski added two hits and an RBI and Ryan Cobb tripled in a run.
Besides Gaskins (2-for-5, three RBIs), Jones was led by Hiesey’s two hits and two runs knocked in, and two hits from Blake Toler.
Jones starts conference play today with a trip to Morehead City, while Post 43 (4-2, 1-0) visits Rocky Mount Post 58 for a league contest.
Post 43 000 002 100—3 11 5
Post 154 001 740 00x—12 11 0
Kearney, Melvin (4), Janning (5), Hinson (7), Blackburn (8) and Davis; Pence, Buck (3), Price (5), Garberrino (7), Hardison (9) and Hiesey. W—Buck. L—Kearney.