PINETOWN — Beaufort County Post 15 hosted Cary Post 67 for a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. A 3-2 score decided both games with the Pirates suffering their first loss of the season in the first game.

The sun was beating down hard the entire afternoon, but that didn’t stop both teams from enjoying themselves. During a break in the second game, the Pirates and Bulls set up on opposite sides of the outfield and pretended they were going to war. Bats became rifles and baseballs were hand grenades. The Pirates and Bulls both took a break from the competitive games to share a few laughs.

“It’s such a good group of kids to coach, to be honest,” coach Glenn Marsh said. “They have a lot of fun with each other. You have your three high schools represented and Terra Ceia. They all are playing for Beaufort County and they enjoy being around each other. It’s fun to be around this group.”

Beaufort County struck first in the bottom of the second of the first game. Tanner Alligood singled to centerfield and then stole second. With two on and two outs, Logan Little continued his hot streak by batting in Alligood.

After keeping the Pirates quiet in the third, the Bulls were able to score three times in the top of the fourth. They got two across thanks to a throwing error and added another on a double to right field. Beaufort County bounced back by stranding two in scoring position to minimize the damage done.

Little, Reg Bishop and Cody Godley each led off the bottom of the fifth with consecutive singles. The Pirates, threatening to erase their deficit, had the bases loaded with no outs. However, only Little was able to come across after a double play and a groundout.

Beaufort County had a last-second chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the seventh. The bases were loaded with one out, but Cary was able to retire two batters in a row to hang on and give the Pirates their first loss of the season.

“The effort was there, but they had a couple of tough breaks in the first game,” Marsh said. “They had a tough inning in the middle of the first game. We played a good Cary team. They were very sound. I think we’ll have a good week coming up.”

Cary picked up where it left off with a run in each of the first two innings in the second game. Despite working with a 2-0 lead, though, the Bulls’ pitchers struggled with control.

Tripp Barfield led off the bottom of the second with a base hit through the left side. Logan Everette, Matthew Marslender and Grant Talbot all drew walks to earn an easy run. Cary rebounded nicely by setting down the next to batters to leave the bases loaded again.

The Bulls walked in two more runs to give Beaufort County the lead in the bottom of the third. American Legion only plays five innings in the back end of doubleheaders, so it was up to the Pirate defense to hold onto the lead.

They did just that by retiring the Bulls in order in the fourth and fifth innings. Everette, who started on the mound in the second game, fanned a pair of Bulls in the fourth. Little took over for the final frame and also notched two strikeouts to preserve the win. It was an excellent way to cap off an impressive afternoon of pitching as Austin Roscoe went a full seven innings in the first game.

“It’s good to get these pitchers some innings,” Marsh said. “We’ll have three or four games a week now that school is out. Then the end-of-season tournament will be in Manteo. It’ll be baseball everyday when we get there. We’re going to need a lot of pitchers.”