AHOSKIE – Wilson County Post 13 knocked off Ahoskie Post 102 by a final of 22-2 here Friday night.

Despite the loss, however, the Senior American Legion team from Ahoskie will make their third consecutive trip to the playoffs due to Edenton being declared ineligible. The Edenton Post was declared ineligible because they did not complete the correct paperwork, thus forfeiting the third seed.

Wilson jumped out to an 18-0 lead through five and a half innings and went on to easily outdistance their opponents.

Ahoskie scored their only two runs in the bottom of the sixth stanza, at the time cutting the margin to 18-2.

Jamie Grant singled to right to get the inning started. He stole second before William Barmer delivered a two-run homer.

Wilson scored their final four runs in the top of the seventh inning.

Ahoskie threatened in the bottom of the seventh frame when they put two runners on base. Ryan Ellis walked and Wes Ward singled before Matthew Schwab hit into a fielder’s choice that erased Ward at second. A popout ended the game.

Ahoskie used six pitchers. Ellis started and got the loss. Schwab, Ward, Barmer, Grant and Eric Ellis also saw action on the mound.

&uot;Wilson wanted it more,&uot; Post 102 head coach Randy Whitaker said. &uot;My hat is off to them. We didn’t have a lot of wins this season, but we played hard.

&uot;All you can ask is to have a chance to make the playoffs going into your last game,&uot; he added.

Ahoskie finished the regular season 5-20 overall and 3-7 in the conference.

They faced top-seeded Rocky Mount last night (Monday) in the first round of the American Legion playoffs.

The team will travel to Rocky Mount again tonight for game two of the series. If necessary, game three will be played at Rocky Mount at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

This is the third consecutive year that Whitaker has led Ahoskie has made the postseason.