The Warrenton Post 122 Legion Freshmen wrapped up their season going 0-2 in the Missouri Ninth District Baseball Tournament. 

Warrenton dropped its opening round game, 11-1, against St. Charles on Friday and was eliminated by Sullivan, 11-1, on Saturday.

The Freshman team finished the summer with an 8-9 record overall and a 6-6 finish in league play.

In the game against St. Charles, Warrenton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Kole Hammerberg reached base on a defensive error and scored off a base hit roped down the first baseline by Hunter Sherman. 

Warrenton didn’t hold on to that lead for long. St. Charles pushed across four runs in the bottom half of the third off four hits, including an RBI double in the gap by Blake Rufkahr. 

That lead was all St. Charles pitcher Caleb Greenwood would need to get the win. He allowed five hits and struck out one in the win. 

Warrenton had its chances early. With a runner on and one out, a Warrenton base runner got caught up between second and third for the out. A groundout got St. Charles out of the inning.

Warrenton pitcher Cameron Swaringen started out strong, fanning four in the first three innings, but fatigue set in. He allowed 10 hits in the loss.

Warrenton coach Ken Dildine said the losses to St. Charles and Sullivan were tough to take.

“We hit the ball really well,” Dildine said. “We hit it right at them, though. We made a couple of base-running mistakes in the first couple of innings. We got aggressive and it didn’t pan out for us.”

For Warrenton, Dylan Hamlett, Hammerberg, Jason Long, Adrian Ochoa and Sherman all had hits in the game.

Dildine said St. Charles’ hitters were tough to defend.

“They just hit the ball where we weren’t,” Dildine said. “That’s tough as a coach to defend because they’re just going to drive it over your head. I’d rather keep the ball in front of us and give up singles. Cameron pitched a good game and a lot of those hits were ones where they just threw their bat out to see what would happen.”

In the final game of the season, Sullivan pushed across a run in the first inning and never looked back, pushing across six runs in the third inning and four in the fourth, respectively. 

Warrenton scored a run in the fourth inning, but it was too late.

Sherman struck out three in the loss to Sullivan. Garrett Juergens allowed just three hits while getting the win for Sullivan.

“These kids worked their tails off,” Dildine said. “For the month of June, it’s nothing but solid baseball. Even at the single-A level where it’s developmental, I still want the boys to play as many ball-games as they can and do as much work as possible. Every time I’ve asked the boys to step up, they’ve done that. As a coach, that’s great to see.”