AHOSKIE – Post 39 scored the winning run in the eighth inning.

That led Pitt County to a 9-8 victory over Ahoskie American Legion Post 102 in a Senior American Legion game played here Saturday night.

Pitt County opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the first frame.

Ahoskie bounced back to close the deficit to a single run in the bottom of the inning.

Tyler Burden and Marvin Harrell had back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. Burden then scored on a Daniel Merritt RBI-single which moved Harrell to third. Harrell scored on a Blake Hill sacrifice fly to close the gap to 3-2.

Post 102 then surged ahead in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Hill was hit by a pitch, Jud Smith singled and Patrick Dilday reached on an error to load the bases for Ahoskie. Brock Merritt then had an RBI-fielder’s choice and Smith scored on an error on the play to give Ahoskie a 4-3 edge.

Pitt County rallied back to the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth frame.

Post 102 moved back in front thanks to scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Brock Merritt walked just before Mitchell Godwin belted a two-run homer to left to put Ahoskie ahead 6-5.

Pitt County came back for three runs in the top of the seventh and held an 8-6 lead after six and a half innings, but Ahoskie tied the game in the bottom of the frame.

Daniel Merritt walked and then Brandon Warren again made Pitt County pay for the mistake as he hit a two-run dinger just as Godwin had the inning before. The result was an 8-all tie heading into the eighth.

Pitt County, however, pushed another mark across in the eighth and it was the final run of the game as the visiting team held on for the win.

Tyler Pryor, Joseph Eure and Brandon Warren all pitched for Post 102.

“Pitt County is a good team,” Post 102 skipper Dave Ellis said. “It was a great game. We just came up a run short.

“We battled all game long against one of the top teams in the area,” he added.

Ahoskie dropped to 2-3 overall with the loss and will host Rocky Mount at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday).