The American Legion Post 70 19U team picked up two wins on Saturday thanks to strong pitching by familiar faces.

Post 70 began the day with a 3-0 win against the North Florida Black Sox before beating the Over the Mountain team from Birmingham 5-2.

“I was really proud of the pitching and defensive effort that we had,” said head coach Rush Hixon. “We had two really good outing from Reece Burbage and Hunter Reeves. We had a great performance from those guys on a day when we didn’t score a heap of runs.”

In game one, Pike Lib’s Burbage pitched six scoreless innings before Charles Henderson’s Graham Wilks pitched the rest of the way. In game two, Hunter Reeves came in pitched a complete game while only allowing two runs.

“Those are the two guys (Burbage and Reeves) that we are really going to rely on down the stretch to give us quality outings,” Hixon said. “So far they have done that. They did it all year at their respective high schools and they are carrying it over to the summer.”

Hicks was pleased to see the strong pitching performances.

“It’s really good for us because so far start the summer we haven’t had the sticks. Being able to lean on the pitching has been huge for us. When the bats come around I think we will have a really good combination.”

Gage Herring had the biggest blow of the weekend when he hit a home run to put Post 70 up 2-0 in game one.

Post 70 made the transition to wooden bats this past weekend and even though it was fun to use something different, it was a challenge.

“It’s a little tougher than what people realize,” Hixon said. “Using a wooden bat you really have to square the ball up and it on the sweet spot. It makes them focus a little more.”

The 17U team was also in action over the weekend. Ross Hixon’s team went 2-1 by beating Tuscaloosa Post 34 5-1 in extra innings and Millbrook 13-1. They fell in the middle game to Prospects 18U team 5-3.

“We played Tuscaloosa first and we jumped out early and swung the bat well early,” said 17U head coach Ross Hixon. “I don’t know if it was because the first game was long, but I felt like we weren’t ready to come out and play two games. We came out flat and didn’t do the little things well. I feel like we lost to a team that we were better than.”

Nathan Renfroe got his first start in game one before giving way to Ethan Baker. In game two Reed Jinright got the ball.

“He did OK,” Ross Hixon said. “He had some walks that he shouldn’t have had. I have seen him a lot better than that. He did pitch good enough to win we just didn’t string hits together to score.”

Another familiar face in Clay Barron pitched in game three against Millbrook.

“He did ok. He had a few walks that he shouldn’t have had either and got his pitch count up,” Ross Hixon said.

Both the 17 and 19U teams will host the Fathers Day Class at Riddle-Pace Field this weekend.