AHOSKIE – Post 102 battled back from a two-run deficit to stop Rocky Mount Post 58 by a final of 7-5 here Sunday night.

&uot;We had great effort tonight,&uot; Post 102 skipper Randy Whitaker said. &uot;The guys had a good attitude, they were pulling for each other and we made the plays when we needed to.&uot;

With Post 58 ahead 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, Ahoskie’s senior team surged to the lead for good.

Corey Castelloe started the inning with a single to right. He moved to third on a Brandon Matthews double to right-centerfield and then scored when Matthew Schwab reached on an error.

Matthews went to third on Schwab’s at-bat and then scored on a wild pitch that moved Schwab to third.

William Barmer reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Schwab at the plate. Dustin Briggs walked before Ronald Phelps scored both runners on a triple to centerfield. That gave Ahoskie a 5-3 lead from which they never looked back.

Rocky Mount scored one run in the top of the sixth stanza on a Travis Cobb RBI-groundout to cut the lead to one, but Post 102 answered in the bottom of the same inning.

Matthews had an infield single and then went to second on a Schwab single to right field. The runners advanced on an error before Matthews scored on a Barmer sacrifice fly. Schwab went to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a Briggs sacrifice fly that gave Ahoskie a 7-4 advantage.

Rocky Mount scored one in the top of the seventh stanza on a John Moore sacrifice fly, but Post 102 relief pitcher Judd Whitehead struck out the final batter with the bases loaded to preserve the lead.

Heath Britt went five innings, allowing three runs and picking up the pitching victory. Whitehead then picked up the save by going four innings on the mound.

&uot;I really have to commend Heath Britt because he was an emergency starter and only had 10 minutes to get loose,&uot; Whitaker said. &uot;We had a different pitcher scheduled to start, but he had problems in warm-ups and I had to call on Heath and he did a fantastic job.&uot;

Post 58 had taken the early lead, scoring one run in the top of the third inning on a Will Johnson RBI-single.

Post 102 answered when Briggs reached on a dropped third strike and went to second on a wild pitch. He went to third when Phelps reached on an error and scored on a Jacob Harrell sacrifice fly to tie the score.

Rocky Mount plated two in the top of the fourth to take the 3-1 lead. Those runs scored on a Moore RBI-single and a Brooks Dew RBI-single.

Matthews led the Post 102 hitting attack with two hits on the day. Schwab, Phelps and Castelloe added one hit each.

Ahoskie improved to 1-3 on the season and will play at Kinston tonight at 7 p.m. They travel to Beaufort County for a 7 p.m. start Wednesday night.