TAOS, Mo. - The Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Juniors continued their unbeaten start to the season this past weekend with a first-place finish in the Triple Play Baseball Wood Bat Battle at Countryside Park.
The Post 5 Juniors opened the tournament Saturday with a 6-3 win against the Central Missouri Phenom.
Braden Hickey and Nolan Heckemeyer hit back-to-back doubles to open the bottom of the first inning for Jefferson City. Both scored in the inning to give Post 5 at 2-0 lead.
Post 5 took advantage of five walks in the second to double its lead to 4-0. Hickey added a sacrifice fly in the third and Heckemeyer hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make the score 6-0.
The Phenom scored all of their runs in the top of the seventh.
Heckemeyer was the winning pitcher for Post 5. In 6 innings, he allowed three runs and five walks while striking out five. He held the Phenom without a hit until there was one out in the sixth inning.
Hickey went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two runs scored. Andy Hueste and Gage Cunningham each had a single.
In Saturday's second contest, Post 5 defeated the Missouri Redhawks 2-1.
All three runs were scored in the fourth inning. Hayden Salmons hit a sacrifice fly to score Alex Grellner, then Evan Kliethermes doubled to score Cade Stockman and put Post 5 ahead 2-0.
The Redhawks hit a two-out single in the bottom half of the inning to score their lone run off Grellner, who picked up the win on the mound. In six innings, he allowed one run on four hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Cunningham earned the save with a scoreless seventh inning, striking out one and allowing one hit.
Kliethermes had the only multihit game for Post 5, going 2-for-3 with a single and a double.
On Sunday, Post 5 won 7-2 against the Kansas Crush to win the tournament title.
The Krush scored one run in the top of the first inning, marking the only time Post 5 trailed in the tournament. But it wouldn't last for long.
Jefferson City scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Krush scored their other run in the fourth to tie the game at 2, but Jaden Hoskins hit an RBI single to score Hickey in the fifth, giving Post 5 the lead back for good.
Jefferson City added four more runs in the sixth.
Hickey, Heckemeyer and Hoskins each finished the game with two singles.
James Schaeffer pitched a complete game for Post 5. In seven innings, he allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and nine strikeouts.
The Post 5 Juniors have a 7-0 record following the tournament.