Harrisburg Post 167 kicked off the season the right way with a pair of wins over McLeansboro Post 106 at Gibbs Field Wednesday night.
Harrisburg took Game One 4-1 and followed that up with a 2-1 win in Game Two.
In the first game, Crab Orchard's Josh Turnage pitched Harrisburg to a 24th District win as Post 167 sits at 2-0 overall and 2-0 in district play.
Turnage went five innings, allowing two hits and one unearned run. He struck out four and walked one. Gallatin County's Garrett Rushing came on in relief and worked two innings.
Bayden Ditterline was 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. Payton Miller also had an RBI, while Ethan Ashby was 2-for-3 and Ben Byrd was 1-for-3.
Kale Oglesby scored the season's first run and was part of a two-run first for Harrisburg. McLeansboro responded with a run of their own in the top of the second, but Harrisburg put up insurance runs with one in the fourth and fifth inning.
In Game Two, Ben Byrd was 3-for-3 with a double and run scored, while Turnage and Seth Quertermous were both 1-for-3. Turnage had a double, while Quertermous scored a run.
Harrisburg jumped out in front early when Quertermous singled, stole second and was driven in on an RBI by Rushing.
In the second inning, Byrd singled and following a Turnage double, Byrd scored on a passed ball.
Payton Miller got the win on the bump for Post 167 as he went four innings and allowed two hits and one unearned run, while striking out seven and walking four.
Bronson Stanley went 1.1 innings, while Dalton Lambert got the save for Harrisburg, striking out three.
Harrisburg Post 167 head coach Cody Hall said the first take away from him was how impressive his pitching was Wednesday night.
Our pitching (tonight) was phenomenal," Hall said. Turnage, Miller, Rushing, Stanley and Lambert all of those guys were really good tonight and honestly, that's what we expect and it's what we have to have. We also have to have timely hitting and we didn't for some reason or another. Maybe it's because it's the first game, maybe it's because these guys are new to each other, but our hitting wasn't at it's best.
"The thing we take away is we held a lead and won both games. The biggest part for us was not scuffling when things got tough. We picked each other up and kept fighting. It was good to see us win close games like this early in the season."
Harrisburg is set to return to action Friday at Gibbs Field in a 6 p.m. game against Salem Post 128.
Prior to the game, Sons Of The Harrisburg American Legion commander Greg Hodson threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
