Manager Jamey Sherman isn’t going to complain too much about a win in league play for his Warrenton Post 122 AA team. 

Though it wasn’t the prettiest win, a 6-5 victory against St. Clair Post 347 Sunday is still a win. 

Sherman said the team got things done at critical points in the game.

“Anytime you can go against a district opponent like this and get a win, that’s a good thing,” Sherman said. “We’ll definitely take a win when we can get it.”

Down 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Post 122 began to chip away at St. Clair’s lead. Brenden Hazel’s infield single started the inning. He later scored when Braden Lawson reached on an error to cut the St. Clair lead to 5-4.

A defense that struggled mightily in the first half of the game for Post 122 thwarted a chance for St. Clair to score in the top of the sixth inning. On a routine groundout, St. Clair’s Bailey Smith attempted to reach third, but was gunned down to end the inning and the threat.

Then the bats came back to life for Post 122. 

Adrian Ochoa reached on an error to start things off in the bottom of the sixth. A bloop single by Brenden Hazel scored Ochoa. Hazel stole both second and third base to get into scoring position and scored off of Dylan O’Neal’s single to left to put Post 122 up 6-5.

Sherman said Hazel’s speed and the speed at the top of the order is a large part of his team’s offense.

“We’ve got some good speed at the top of our lineup and we try to use that to our advantage when we can,” Sherman said. “We always try to steal that base when we can, especially with (Brenden) Hazel and a few other kids. We know we can allow kids to take a strike to let our other guys get into scoring position.”

The offense gave Post 122 a 3-0 lead off RBIs by Mitchell Burnette, Elijah Ecton and Kory Schniedermeyer.

But a tough second inning defensively for Post 122 and three straight base-hits tied the game at 3-3. Two fielding errors in the inning extended opportunities for St. Clair.

St. Clair took a 5-3 lead the very next inning during which Post 122 defensive miscues again gave St. Clair base runners. 

Sherman said defensive struggles as of late are a matter of fundamentals.

“Sometimes you just have to get back to basics,” he said. “It’s kind of a rough field right now with all this dust and sand and the kids are handling it pretty well, knocking down balls and keeping things in front of them.”

For Post 122, Dalton Owenby got the win on the mound, entering the game in the second inning. Owenby struck out five and allowed four hits. St. Clair’s Sam Brown took the loss.

Hazel and O’Neal led the offense for Post 122 with two hits in the game. 

The win puts Post 122 at 8-6-1 on the season and 5-2 in district play.

The team hosts Hannibal Thursday.