GREENFIELD — Make it nine wins in a row for the Belchertown Post 239 Senior American Legion baseball team, as it scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to an 11-3 victory over Greenfield Post 81 on Tuesday evening at Vets Field.

Belchertown (11-1) dropped its one and only game of the season back on June 13 against Northampton Post 28, but hasn’t lost since. Post 239 now possesses the No. 1 seed in District 3 heading into their final game of the regular season on Wednesday.

Those four runs came courtesy of a handful of walks and an error from the Post 81 defense. That gave Alex West, Belchertown’s starting pitcher, a strong cushion and allowed him to pitch freely throughout his outing — which lasted three innings where he gave up two runs (none earned) on four hits.

“It helps settle you in right away,” Post 239 head coach Todd McDonald said of his team’s early runs. “It sets the tone and allows your pitchers to pitch with a lead. That’s been the case for most of our games this year. Any time our pitchers can pitch with a lead, it’s just more comfortable for everybody on the defensive side.”

After the Senior Legion game on Tuesday and before the proceeding Junior Legion contest took place, Greenfield Legion baseball chairman Bill Phelps recognized two of Post 81’s longtime sponsors for their 30 years of support. Phelps handed out gifts to David Tyler and Joseph Emond of Town Line Auto Repair in Gill, both of whom received an ovation from those in attendance at Vets Field.

Greenfield (4-8) has struggled for much of the season, and it was more of the same issues plaguing Post 81 again on Tuesday. Greenfield committed four errors and walked 11 Belchertown batters.

Head coach Alex Siano knew it would be tough to piece together a strong pitching staff for Tuesday’s game, especially with ace Caleb Thomas unavailable after he tweaked his back during his first at bat, so he needed his defense to be on their A-game. That wasn’t the case, and against the two-time reigning District 3 champions, it gifted them too many runs.

“The kids tried hard,” Siano said. “They didn’t give up, but they got a little sloppy at times. And Belchertown is a good team. When you’re not having the best year and you’re playing a good team, you have to play your best ball. We didn’t do that, and that’s the bottom line. We tried to fight back, and we did for a little bit, then they had an inning where they got a few runs and took the wind out of our sails.”

Those frames came in the fifth and sixth, after Post 81 hung around and kept the game at 5-2 through four innings. Belchertown hung three runs in the fifth and added three more in the sixth to jump ahead for good.

Ian McDonald led the Post 239 offense with two hits, two runs, two RBIs and a walk, Canyon Charron added two hits and two runs, Jake Smith reached base three times (hit, two walks) and drove in a pair of runs, Josh Misiaszek walked three times, scored a run and added an RBI and Jake Waller walked twice, scored and had an RBI.

Charron relieved West on the mound and tossed two innings, giving up one run and three hits while striking out two, then McDonald closed things out with two perfect innings to propel Belchertown to the win.

Eight Post 239 players reached base multiple times, but perhaps the most impressive part of their victory was the stellar defense. Spencer Waite made a pair of diving catches in center field to rob Greenfield of run-scoring opportunities, and shortstop Chace Earle had a flashy play late in the game ranging to his right that gunned down a Post 81 hitter.

“Our pitchers have been saying all year long that they’re not afraid to throw strikes because they know the guys behind them are gonna make plays,” McDonald said. “Spencer has been our steady force in center field over the past couple of years, so we know if the ball is in the air that he’s got a chance to get it. And with Chace at short, we saw what we wanted from him tonight. Ian’s been playing short most of the season, but he played second tonight. We know both are capable.”

Hugh Cyhowski was the lone Greenfield player to record multiple hits. Jackson Campbell, Ethan Mauthe (walk), Ben Caron (walk), Shaun Baumann and Luca Siano (RBI) all hit safely as well. On the mound, Cyhowski was spelled after one inning by Sam Connors, who went one inning before Campbell came on for the rest of the evening. Campbell struck out seven in his five innings of work, where he surrendered three earned runs.

With a handful of players from Pioneer’s MIAA Division 5 state championship team and some of the top players from other Franklin County schools, Greenfield Post 81 entered the summer with justifiably high expectations. But Siano hasn’t had his full team for most games, and he’s had to mix and match where to put his players throughout the year without his full stable to choose from.

“We’ve addressed that this year, about kids using this as their secondary team,” Siano said. “We’re not going to do that next year. We’re going to make some changes. We’re going to go younger and play with younger guys because those kids want to be here. There’s some really good players on the Junior [Legion] team, so we’re looking good moving forward.”

Both teams wrap up their seasons on Wednesday, with Belchertown Post 239 hosting North Adams Post 125 at 5:45 p.m. and Greenfield Post 81 traveling to take on Aldenville Post 337 at 7:30 p.m.