The Buckingham County Majors All-Stars have earned a spot in the 2019 Dixie Youth Baseball Major League State Tournament by reaching the final three in their district, and they were set to play the Goochland all-star team for the District 4 tournament title Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Dillwyn.

Buckingham, which is hosting the double-elimination District 4 tourney at Gene Dixon Sr. Memorial Park, entered Tuesday with a 2-1 record in the event. The boys had a chance to close the tourney out Monday but fell 6-5 to Goochland.

On Sunday, Buckingham handed Goochland its first loss, 7-1.

After that game, Troy Wooten, manager of Buckingham, said his team displayed “solid defense tonight, good hitting when we needed it, and the pitching’s been good.”

A leader on offense was Kayne Wooten.

“He had a two-run homer first inning,” Manager Wooten said.

This allowed Buckingham to hold a 2-0 lead coming out of the first.

Kayne Wooten was intentionally walked in his last at-bat.

Other Buckingham leaders in the win included Amare Jones, who hit two singles, and Mario Nicholas, who hit a key two-run single late in the game to help his team pull away.

Nicholas got the start on the mound and was later relieved by Zahir Chambers. One strike from victory, Chambers reached 40 pitches, which is the limit for a pitcher to still be eligible to pitch the next day, so Manager Wooten saved him for that possibility by putting Ethan Walter on the mound to close the game.

Buckingham had a bye Friday and opened its district play Saturday with an 11-3 win against the Amelia County All-Stars, the other eventual state tournament qualifier.

“Amelia gave up a lot of walks, and then we took advantage of them, got some hits, bases on hits and then moved runners and scored runs up,” Manager Wooten said. “Our pitching was solid, and we’ll see them again probably in states.”

Getting the start on the mound in that game was Kayne Wooten.

“He pitched nine strikeouts and faced 14 batters, no runs allowed,” Manager Wooten said. “And then Ethan Walter came in, and then Mario Nicholas finished it up.”

Describing this year’s Buckingham Majors all-star team, the manager noted it features a distinct mixture of youth and experience.

“We’re half and half,” he said. “We’re really young. We have six of the 12(-year-olds) and then six 11(-year-olds). Some of the ones we have on this team haven’t had a whole lot of all-star experience, been too young to it, but they’re rising up.”

The state tournament, which will feature three teams from District 4, three from District 5 and two from District 9, is set to begin July 5. It will be held in Lunenburg County on Lenhart Field in Victoria. The District 5 teams include Prince Edward-Farmville, Blackstone and Lunenburg.