AHOSKIE – Ahoskie Post 102 and Smithfield, Virginia Post 49 split a Senior American Legion doubleheader here Sunday.

Ahoskie claimed victory in game one by a final of 6-5 before Smithfield took the nightcap by the same score.

In the first game, Brock Merritt had a walk-off RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh to lift Ahoskie to the victory.

Smithfield actually opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second stanza.

Ahoskie answered with three runs in the bottom of the same inning.

Tyler Pryor singled to center before Will Glover followed with a base hit to left. Merritt then drew a walk to load the bases.

Pryor scored on a Timmy Whitlow sacrifice fly and Glover came home on a Brandon Stifflemier RBI-double. Merritt scored on a Tyler Burden sacrifice fly to give Ahoskie a 3-1 lead.

Smithfield added a run in the third and another in the fourth to draw the game to a 3-all tie.

Ahoskie answered, however, with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Stifflemier walked and went to second on a Burden single. A double-steal moved the runners to second and third. Billy Nixon then singled to center to plate both runners and give Ahoskie a 5-3 edge.

Smithfield wasn’t done, however, as they scored two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5-all.

In the bottom of the seventh, Clay Robbins singled to right. Two outs followed before Glover delivered a hit to right as well. Merritt then delivered his game-winning hit to give Ahoskie the victory.

Ryland Edwards pitched seven innings and claimed the win for Post 102. He allowed five runs on nine hits and struck out five.

Ahoskie had nine hits led by Pryor and Glover with two hits each.

In the second game, Smithfield trailed 5-2 heading into the final inning, but plated four runs to grab the come-from-behind win.

Post 49 got the first score with a run in the first frame.

Ahoskie scored three runs in the bottom of the same inning to surge ahead.

Burden and Daniel Merritt each drew a walk before Nixon doubled to center, sending Burden home. Daniel Merritt and Nixon scored on a two-run double by Robbins to make it 3-1.

Smithfield closed the gap to 3-2 with a run in the top of the second inning, but Ahoskie came back with a mark in the third.

Daniel Merritt singled to right before Robbins walked. Pryor then came through with an RBI-single to give Ahoskie a 4-2 edge.

The final run for the home team came in the bottom of the fifth.

Robbins and Pryor had back-to-back singles to left before Brock Merritt walked to load the bases. Robbins scored on a sacrifice fly by Whitlow to make it 5-2.

Smithfield, however, scored four in the top of the seventh and held Post 102 at bay in the home half of the inning to secure the split.

Adam Fairless got the start for Ahoskie and pitched four and one-third innings before giving way to Glover, Burden and Whitlow.

Ahoskie had seven hits. Robbins and Pryor led the way with two each.

“We got good starting pitching in both games,” Post 102 skipper Dave Ellis said. “Brock Merritt got a big hit for us in the first game and in the second game we left too many runners on base.

“We just have to be able to close games,” he said.

Ahoskie is 3-9 after the split and will host Edenton today (Tuesday) in a doubleheader. First pitch for game one is 5 p.m.