Williamsburg Post 39 opens district tourney with blowout win

By John Harvey

HarveySports757@yahoo.com

JAMES CITY – Williamsburg Post 39 extended its winning streak to 17 Monday night with a convincing 13-1 victory over Middlesex Post 241 in seven innings during the first round of the District 3 tournament held at Warhill High School.

Solomon McCray had two hits and drove in four runs as the Wildflowers rallied from an early deficit.

“I’m feeling really confident in my swing,” McCray said. “Everything is clicking right now. I feel like anyone can hit well if you’re time is right and you can see the ball, and both are going well for me right now.”

Middlesex Post 241 opened the scoring with a run in the top of third inning of Post 39 ace Matt Smith. Jordan Hodges led off with a double to the wall in left field. Two batters later, Hodges scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Matthew Harris.

The lead would be short-lived as Williamsburg (17-0) struck for five runs as they batted around in the inning. McCray led the charge with a 2-run single. Mikey Anerton and Kent Klyman added run-scoring hits to take a 5-1 lead.

McCray drove in his third run of the game in the fourth inning, an RBI-single to score Austin Carter. “With runners in scoring position, I just focus on hitting the ball where it’s pitched and not trying to do too much.”

Post 39 delivered the knockout blow in the fifth, scoring seven runs. Griffin Colorado and Tyler Klinedinst had run-scoring hits in the inning. McCray added sacrifice fly and Michael Brumfield drove in another with a bases-loaded walk.

Klinedinst went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Klyman added two hits with a pair of runs and 2 RBI. Colorado drove in three runs and Jake Countiss scored twice.

That was more than enough support for Smith. The William and Mary product allowed just one run on three hits and struck out eight to improve his record to 5-0 this summer.

“With Matt on the hill, we know as a team all we have to do is score runs because we know he’s not going to let up many runs,” he said. “If we can score, we can win with him or any other of our pitchers.”

Williamsburg Post 39 will play Poquoson Post 273 on Tuesday in the winner’s bracket of the District 3 tournament. Post 273 defeated Gloucester Post 75 10-0. Game time is 7 p.m.

Check out a photo gallery from Monday's game here.

Harvey can be reached at HarveySports757@yahoo.com or via Twitter at @HarveySports757,