AHOSKIE – Austin Hurdle had a two-out walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning as Ahoskie Post-102 beat Edenton Post-40, 3-2, in a junior American Legion baseball game here Friday night.

Ahoskie opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Bryan Merritt singled to center field and the next batter, Brandon Terry, was hit by a pitch. Merritt later scored on a Hurdle RBI single to center and Post-102 led the game 1-0 after one complete inning.

Edenton scored the equalizer in the top of the fourth on a Cody Byrum RBI groundout.

In the bottom of that same frame, with two out, Ahoskie’s Jarrett Harrell singled to left field and went to third on a David Watford double over the centerfielder’s head. Trey Futrell followed and drew a walk to load the bases. However, Ahoskie couldn’t capitalize and the game remained tied at 1-1 after four full innings.

Ahoskie went ahead with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Everett Sawyer walked and stole second and later third. David Watford then drew a walk and a pick-off throw to third base by the Edenton catcher on the side play was wild and Sawyer was able to score, giving Post-102 a 2-1 lead after six innings of play.

Edenton was able to tie the game once more with a run in the top of the seventh inning on an error and the game was knotted at two runs apiece going into the bottom of the inning.

In that frame, Tyler Jones led off with an infield single and went to second on a Merritt sacrifice bunt. Edenton looked to be headed to extra innings as they got the next Ahoskie out. But up stepped Hurdle and he ripped a single to right field as Jones turned on the after-burners and motored around from second to score the game-winning run, erupting in a wild celebration on the field by Ahoskie.

Eric Ortiz pitched seven innings for the win allowing two runs on five hits and he had four strikeouts.

Hurdle led Ahoskie’s eight hits with a pair of singles and two runs-batted-in. Ortiz, Jones, Merritt, Harrell, Terry, and Watford had one hit apiece for the other base hits.

“I’m proud of this team,” said Post-102 coach Brandon Matthews. “This was a game we had to have and Austin got the big hit for us tonight. Even through adversity we fought to the end.”

“Eric pitched a great game,” he added. “We also made the plays on defense in the field in pressure situations.”

Ahoskie raised its record to 6-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Post-102 plays its fourth and final regular-season game against Windsor Post-37 on Tuesday at Hertford County High School baseball field beginning at 7 p.m.