American Legion Roanoke Post 3 picked up a pair of decisive wins over the weekend to improve to 4-0 on the season, with hopes of defending their District 9 South baseball championship in 2013.
Post 3 is made up of five college players and numerous players from the local high school ranks in what manager Scott Smith says is the key to the success for Post 3
“When I came on board as manager five years ago, we only had two high school seniors,” Smith noted over the weekend. “Now, we have five from the college ranks that meet the Legion age requirements and several of the best local high school players. Keeping guys interested in coming back makes the difference.”
Both weekend games evidenced the strengths of Roanoke Post 3. Saturday evening, Roanoke rode the stellar pitching performance of Jake Schuyler (Cave Spring) for a runaway 16-0 win over Christiansburg. Schuyler threw a complete game 2-hitter, striking out nine and walking none to pick up the win.
Post 3 jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings, helped in part by five Christiansburg errors, to coast to victory.
Matt Doughty (North Cross) led the offense with 5 RBIs on a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly, while two Hidden Valley standouts, Chad Frazier and Jack Moore, each had 2 RBIs. Hayes Nelson (Hidden Valley) collected two hits.
In Sunday’s matinee at Kiwanis Field, Roanoke posted an 11-0 win over Hammond, TN, as Post 3 pounded out 18 hits. Steve Klaiber (Cave Spring/ UVa-Wise) and Nic Ratliff (Hidden Valley) each connected for four hits, while Hayden Smith (Hidden Valley/Allegheny College, PA) drove in three. Nelson went deep for a Post 3 homer. Evan Deyerle (PH) picked up the win on the mound for Roanoke, allowing only one hit and striking out 6 in five innings of work before giving way to the Post 3 bullpen.
Roanoke hits the road this weekend for five straight road games before returning home for a July 7th matchup against Vinton at North Cross’ Porterfield Field followed by July 9th and July 11th games at Kiwanis Field against Big Island and Danville, respectfully.
by Bill Turner
