LINDEN — Under the rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air, Byron Cox Post 72 started the season off with a bang. The local squad defeated Speedway Post 500 11-1 in five innings.
Danville High School product Ethan Wooten carried a big stick. The outfielder was 3-for-3 with two singles and a homerun that sailed over the left field fence in the bottom of the fourth inning. Wooten also had two stolen bases.
Right before Wooten’s round tripper, McCutcheon graduate and Huntington University player Aiden Riser also homered over the left field fence adding to a five-run inning.
Riser was 2-for-4, scored a run and had two RBI.
North Montgomery’s Aiden Ambriz-Cruz was 1-for-3 and scored two runs with one stolen base.
Recent Clinton Central graduate Dillon Heaton, who will be attending Wabash College in the fall, earned the win by pitching four innings. The righty gave up just two hits and one unearned run.
North Montgomery graduate Keaton Brown, who also will be attending Wabash College in the fall, pitched the final inning and set Speedway down in order with two strikeouts.
The opening season game had plenty of gallantry. The Byron Cox Post 72 Color Guard presented the Stars and Stripes in the middle of the field. Montgomery County veteran Kevin Barker sang the National Anthem that included fireworks.
Former Post 72 player and Anderson University pitching coach Landon Southern threw out the first pitch.
Post 72 will play host to Rantoul, Illinois in a doubleheader beginning at noon Saturday at North Montgomery.
