They wear pinstripes and are loaded with stars. And they’re quickly becoming Richmond’s baseball dynasty.

The players of Post 137 South Richmond — they’ve even got an ex-Yankee as their coach — romped their way to a second consecutive American Legion District 11 title last night, 11-5 over Post 175 Mechanicsville.

“These guys are battle-tested,” coach Byron Ballard said. And while all-everything pitcher
Blake Hauser kept the score low with eight solid innings, it was the offense that stole the show.

Every player on the team had an at bat in the first inning, starting with a double from Bradley Shaban. Chris Ayers later made a heads-up play to take second base and was batted in by Joey Cujas, who finished the game with three doubles and a single.

Cujas has been a consistent power bat for South Richmond, starting the season with six home runs in his first five games.

The first inning ended with five runs after a two-RBI triple from Tim Perry plated Ryan Morrison and Hauser.

“We were ready to win after getting a couple days off,” Cujas said. “We just wanted to play one game.”

A Mechanicsville victory would have forced an elimination game today. Instead, South Richmond will coast into the state tournament, where the team opens Tuesday at 1 p.m. against Post 75 Gloucester at RF&P Park in Glen Allen.

Post 137’s pitching will be fresh too, thanks to a gem of an outing by Hauser, who has committed to VCU. Having thrown 91 pitches through seven, he lobbied Ballard for one more and got it — striking out two in a 1-2-3 inning to finish his day.

“That was one heck of a game he threw,” said Shaban, who will play for James Madison. “He’s a workhorse, and it seems like he gets better with every inning he throws.”

He was helped by his defense as well. Cujas plucked a ball that he sent to Tyler Piper to start an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

In the eighth, the team added some runs on a triple from Greg Moon that was followed by a home run from Dustin Sollars — no easy feat on the Douglas Freeman field.

The team is on its way to repeating last season’s success, when it advanced to the American
Legion World Series, ultimately taking third place against the country’s best.

They’re already learning to be more economical. Last year, they had to last through a couple of elimination games.

“We learned that we’ve got to be ready to come to play every game,” Hauser said, noting the importance of staying in the winners’ bracket of the double elimination tournaments.

Last night’s dominating victory showed that South Richmond won’t be lacking for talent during that journey.

Michael Phillips is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Post 175 ......................000 003 002— 5 12 4
Post 137 ..................... 510 000 14x—11 13 2
Marshall, Thorn (7) and Connerley; Hauser,
Florence (8) and C. Ayers.