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CROFTON - The Hartington Post Junior American Legion program got off to a good start for what should be an historical 2024 campaign.
The Post 4 Juniors blanked Crofton 8-0 in the season openers for both teams here in Crofton behind one big inning after Hartington got through the batting order for the first time and a combined no-hitter on the mound.
Breiton Whitmire got the nod on the hill and pitched four innings, striking out 10 and allowing one walk, before giving way to Brady Hochstein who pitched a couple of scoreless, hitless innings while striking out six.
“We have our pitchers on a 60-pitch, pitch-count,” Post 4 manager, Don Whitmire said. “Breiton hit 58 and we took him out. He wanted to finish the game, of course, but we’ll stick with the 60-pitch count right now in the early going.”
The first two innings were scoreless before Hartington broke through with a run in the top of the third then exploded for five runs in the fourth.
The first three Post 4 batters earned walks to open the fourth. Hunter Bensen, Sam Wiebelhaus and Grady Haberer got passes to load the bases and start the run-carousel.
Bensen walked first then stole second base. Wiebelhaus walked to put runners on first and second.
Bensen took off for third and scored on the play after an error by the Crofton third baseman.
Haberer got aboard with his walk and left runners at first and second with no outs.
Gavin Klug chased the runners to second and third with a ground out to third before Wiebelhaus would score on a balk and Haberer crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
The Hartington batter struck out for the second out of the Post 4 half of the frame, but another Crofton error and walk put runners on first and second with two outs.
Whitmire got back to the plate and smacked a line drive into center field to score Maverick Heine and before the dust settled on the inning, Brady Hochstein scored on a passed ball.
In the sixth, Hartington tacked on a couple of insurance runs from Hudson Whitmire and Breiton Whitmire.
Bigger things lie ahead for the Post 4 Juniors as Hartington has been selected to host the Nebraska Class C Junior American Legion Tournament later this summer.
Post 4 was set to be back in action at home against Wayne on May 29 in Ralph Bishop League play before hitting the road for a game with South Sioux City on June 3 and Pender on June 10.
Hartington Post 4 Juniors defeat Crofton 8-0 HAR 001 502 X - 8 3 0 CRO 000 000 X - 0 0 2 WP: Breiton Whitmire LP: Brady Bloomquist. Player ab r h rbi bb Maverick Heine 3 1 0 1 1 Brady Hochstein 3 1 1 1 1 Breiton Whitmire 4 1 2 1 0 Koby Detlefsen 2 0 0 0 2 Hunter Bensen 2 1 0 0 2 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 1 0 0 1 Grady Haberer 0 1 0 0 2 Ryan Lammers 1 0 0 0 0 Gavin Klug 2 0 0 0 0 Micah Cattau 1 0 0 0 0 Tate Fischer 1 1 0 0 1
