ALTON - Chris Rayfield had four hits for Alton Post 126's Junior American Legion baseball team while both Clayton McCormick and Max Laird each had three hits, as the junior Legionnaires had three big innings in defeating Trenton Post 778's junior team 20-6 in a District 22 game played Monday night at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Gordon Moore Park.
Post 126 remained on a roll and has now won six of its last seven games to improve its record to 10-5 in the summer season.
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Alton scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to go on top 3-0, but Trenton countered with six runs in the top of the second to go ahead 6-3. It was all Post 126 after that, as the junior Legionnaires scored nine runs in the second, and eight more in the third to take the 20-6 win, the game being ended by the 10-run rule.
Rayfield led the way for the junior Legionnaires with four hits and two RBIs. In comparison, Clayton McCormick had three hits and four RBIs, Laird added three hits and two RBIs, Triston Ferguson had two hits and three RBIs, Auggie Landuyt, Zach Thornton, and Kaden Witsken all had a hit and an RBI each, and Fletcher Groppell also drove home a run.
Thornton was the starting pitcher and went for two innings to pick up the win, giving up six earned runs on four hits, walking four, and striking out one. Nolan Pichee threw two scoreless innings, giving up two hits and walking four while fanning three, and Braden Hamlin pitched in the fifth inning, setting the side down in order, not allowing a run or hit, walking none and striking out none to preserve the win.
The junior Legionnaires are now 10-5, and meet Maryland Heights, Mo., Post 213 Tuesday night at home in a 6 p.m. start, then compete in the GMB Tournament at O'Fallon's Blazier Field this coming weekend, June 19-21, with the Friday game set to begin at 3 p.m., and the games on Saturday and Sunday set to start at 12 noon, then Post 126 returns home June 23, 2026, to play against Jerseyville Post 438 in a 6 p.m. start.
