MINT HILL, NC – On Friday night at Independence High School, the Mint Hill American Legion Post 555 and the Queen City Mustangs faced off in an American Legion baseball game in front of a good crowd that saw a hard played game.

Due to scheduling problems, this was a Mustangs home game and Mint Hill’s Jake Stanley led off with a single to right field.  Wilson  Lohrer followed with another single to the right field.  Stanley tried to stretch the play out to third but was thrown out at the third base. Nathan Samii walked and Ick Cirino singled to load the bases.  Andy Duran singled to right field to score Lohrer and Mint Hill took a 1-0 lead after one full inning.

In the top of the second Timmy Cotton led off with a base hit to center field.  Adam Wilkerson moved Cotton over on a sacrifice and Taylor Moser drove Cotton home giving Mint Hill a 2-0 lead after two innings.

Mint Hill continued its scoring by adding two more runs in the third inning.  Wilson Lohrer led off with a shot to right field.  After a Mint Hill ground out, Ick Cirino blasted a triple to right field scoring Lohrer.  Christopher Ronik singled to score Cirino and Mint Hill led 4-0.

Queen City got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning.   NateSteinecker led off with a walk.  After Queen City loaded the bases, Steinecker scored on a wild pitch to make the score 4-1.

The Mustangs’ big inning came in the bottom of the fifth.  Johnny Joseph led off with a triple to right field and scored on a Jack Bhojwani sacrifice grounder.   After Donovan Henkel hit a double to the right-field wall and Nate Steinecker walked, Tommy Hoefling doubled to right field scoring the Mustangs’ base runners to tie the score 4-4 after five innings.

Mint Hill got back on top in the seventh inning when Adam Wilkerson led off with a walk.  After stealing second and third base, he scored on a Jake Stanley sacrifice fly to center field.  Wilson Lohrer reached on a double to right field.  Dwight Girard came into the game to run for Lohrer.  Nathan Samii drove in the insurance run for Mint Hill on a shot to left field and Post 555 was back on top 6-4 heading into the bottom on the seventh.

The Mustangs went three up and three down as Post 555 took the win 6-4.

Mint Hill        112  000  2  –  6

Queen City   000  130  0  –  4