EDENTON – Five late runs in the bottom of the seventh inning doomed Post 102 from what seemed like a certain win here Sunday as Edenton Post 40 rallied past Ahoskie 12-11 in a junior American Legion baseball game.

Ahoskie jumped out in front early with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. Steven Futrell was hit by a pitch and ended on third when Evan Lassiter doubled into the gap. Both runners would score on Bradley Edwards’ two-run single. Ahoskie leads 2-0 after a half-inning.

Ahoskie tacked on four more runs in the top of the second. Keyshawn Lassiter got a base hit and stole second. Zeb Askew followed with a base hit and Keyshawn Lassiter scored on Jordan Robinson’s RBI single. Edwards’ sacrifice fly scored Askew, and after a walk, Futrell stroked a two-run single to give Ahoskie a 6-0 lead.

But Post 102 couldn’t hold it as Edenton scored seven runs in the bottom of the second and took a one-run, 7-6, lead after two complete innings of baseball.

Ahoskie went back in front when they pushed across three more runs in the top of the fifth. Keyshawn Lassiter was hit by a pitch and back-to-back walks to Robinson and Futrell loaded the bases. Evan Lassiter scored Keyshawn Lassiter on an RBI fielder’s choice, and Bradley Edwards had a two-run single that scored Robinson and Evan Lassiter. Ahoskie was up on Post 40, 9-7.

Ahoskie got two more runs in the top of the sixth when Trevor Lee doubled and Zeb Askew singled. Lee scored on a Robinson RBI single and Askew scored on an error. Ahoskie was six Edenton outs away from a big win, holding an 11-7 lead.

But they could not hold it. Edenton plated five runs in the bottom of the seventh and escaped with a one-run win.

L.J. Barnes, Jarrett Burden and Lee pitched for Post 102, with Lee coming in for the save, but leaving with the loss.

Ahoskie had 14 hits. Bradley Edwards led the hit parade with a pair of hits and five runs-batted-in. Askew, Futrell, Robinson, and Keyshawn Lassiter also had two hits. Bradley, Lee, Evan Lassiter, and Frankie Reppy had one hit apiece.

“Jarrett Burden pitched great for us,” said Ahoskie Coach Dave Ellis, “we just couldn’t hold on and get him the win. It was a tough loss. We made some errors that hurt us, but we hit the ball well.”

The game was supposed to be part of a double-header, but the coaches decided ahead of time with threatening skies to make it a single game. Good thing, because the second game ended up getting rained out, so this was a non-conference game.

Ahoskie fell to 1-7 and played Bear Grass Monday night in a game not completed by press-time. Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at home they will have a rematch with Post 40, this time as a conference game.