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WAKEFIELD - The Hartington Post 4 Senior American Legion baseball team posted a couple of wins over the past week, taking care of Crofton June 10 in Crofton with a 7-2 win before disposing of Wakefield 17-1 June 15 to improve to 10-2 on the summer..
Post 4 used a strong pitching performance from Breiton Whitmire and a powerful offensive showing to turn away the Bullsnakes 17-1 in a four-inning contest.
“We’re starting to hit the ball better and our defense has been there all year,” said Hartington manager Don Whitmire. “Wakefield is a good team, so this was a big win and it keeps us on track to accomplish what we want to get done this summer.”
In the game, Hartington wasted little time taking control of the contest scoring four runs on two hits in the first inning while Breiton Whitmire took the mound and allowed just one hit in his four-inning outing.
In the first inning, Easton Hochstein came to the plate for Post 4 with the score already 2-0.
Hochstein hammered an 0-2 pitch over the right field fence to score Grady Haberer who had singled earlier in the frame.
“I barrelled it,” Hochstein said. “I wasn’t sure it was going to be far enough, but I knew I had hit it very well. It made it over and it felt really good coming off the bat.”
Hartington added a run in the second, but Post 81 responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-1.
Four more runs by Post 4 in the third and then eight in the top of the fourth put the game out of reach and halted to contest in the bottom of the inning by the run-rule as Whitmire got a couple of flyballs and a groundout to retire the side after allowing a walk to Matthew Metzler.
Whitmire helped his own cause with a double and a triple at the plate while scoring three runs, Hochstein ended 2-for-2 with the homer and scored three times and Haberer was 2-for-3 and also crossed the plate three times. Jaylen Carpenter got the lone hit for Wakefield.
Earlier in the week, Hartington traveled west to take on Crofton and came away with the 7-2 win.
Post 4 jumped on Crofton with a couple of runs in the opening inning when Tate Fischer and Hunter Bensen worked back-to-back walks with one out.
Fischer stole second and third while Bensen was being walked, then Bensen stole second to put both runners in scoring position.
After another out, Haberer singled past the second baseman to score Fischer and Bensen and advanced to second on an error, but a flyout ended the at bat.
Hartington got right back on the horse in the second frame when Sam Wiebelhaus was plunked by the Crofton pitcher with one out and Bodie Hochstein drew a walk.
Breiton Whitmire singled past the shortstop, scoring Wiebelhaus and moving Hochstein to third.
Whitmire stole second then Hochstein scored on a passed ball.
Bensen was hit by a pitch then Whitmire scored on a wild pitch.
Koby Detlefsen drew a walk as did Haberer.
Bensen stole home and the score was 6-0 heading into the bottom of the second.
Later in the game, Easton Hochstein rifled a single to left field, pushing Brady Hochstein across the plate in the fifth.
Crofton scored a couple of runs in the sixth to get to the final score.
Detlefsen pitched a gem on the hill, going the entire seven innings, allowing just two hits, issued no walks and struck out 20 of the 25 batters he faced.
Post 4 was set to travel to Wisner June 17 to take on Wisner-Pilger/ Howells-Dodge before heading south to take on Hooper/Scribner Posts 121/18 on June 24.
HAR (10-2) 4 1 4 8 X X X - 17 10 0 WAK (5-4) 0 1 0 0 X X X - 1 1 4 WP: Breiton Whitmire LP: Mason Lamprecht. 2B: Breiton Whitmire (H). 3B: Breiton Whitmire (H). HR: Easton Hochstein (H). Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Breiton Whitmire 4 1 3 1 0 0 Tate Fischer 3 2 1 3 0 0 Hunter Bensen 2 1 0 0 2 2 Koby Detlefsen 2 2 1 1 1 1 Grady Haberer 3 3 2 1 1 0 Easton Hochstein 2 3 2 3 1 0 Hudson Whitmire 2 2 2 3 1 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 1 0 0 1 1 1 Bodie Hochstein 2 1 0 1 0 1 TEAM 21 17 11 14 7 5 HAR (10-2) 2 4 0 0 1 0 0 - 7 5 1 CRO (4-9) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 2 2 WP: Koby Detlefsen LP: Josh Palensky. Lineup AB R H RBI BB SO Breiton Whitmire 5 1 2 2 0 1 Tate Fischer 3 1 0 0 2 1 Hunter Bensen 2 2 0 0 1 1 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 0 0 1 1 Grady Haberer 2 0 1 1 2 0 Brady Hochstein 3 1 0 0 1 1 Easton Hochstein 3 0 1 0 1 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 1 1 1 0 1 0 Bodie Hochstein 2 1 0 0 2 2 TEAM 24 7 5 3 11 7
