Post 217 wins 4-2 at state

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Staff report

LANCASTER — Sidney Post 217 scored single runs in four different innings, and that proved to be enough for ace pitcher Josh Nixon in the team’s first game of the State Legion Baseball Tournament, going on in Lancaster.

Sidney got by Circleville 4-2 on Wednesday to advance in the winner’s bracket. The local squad was scheduled to play Beverly-Lowell tonight at 7 p.m. in its second game, weather permitting. Beverly-Lowell edged Napoleon 4-3 earlier in the day.

Nixon went the first eight innings before being pulled because of the pitch count in the top of the ninth. He allowed just six singles and walked only one.

“Josh had 118 pitches after eight innings, so he had to come out,” said Legion coach Jim Koewler. “I don’t want to say he wasn’t himself, but he wasn’t quite as sharp as he was at Troy. But he gutted it out and got us to the eighth inning.”

The game was still scoreless after two innings. Post 217 failed to score despite singles by Austin McLain and Kyle Subler in the top of the first.

But Sidney was first on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the third. After an out to lead off the inning, Keeton McEldowney drilled a triple and later scored on a base hit by Daniel Berning.

It was the first of three straight innings in which Post 217 scored a run.

In the fourth, Austin Knapke led off with a base hit, and after an out, Circleville committed two straight errors on ground balls by McLain and McEldowney, allowing Knapke to score an unearned run.

Then in the fifth inning, Post 217 score another run on an RBI double by Knapke that scored Dion Puthoff.

Circleville got its first run in the bottom of the fifth on three straight singles to open the inning. But Nixon was able to pitch out of further damage.

Sidney then made it 4-1 with a run in the top of the seventh. Kyle Noble walked and eventually scored on a ground out.

Circleville added a run in the bottom of the ninth on a one-out walk and a double. But that was all it could manage.

“Josh wasn’t getting ahead of the hitters like his last time out, but he’s a competitor and he fought through it,” said Koewler. “I figured him for maybe six innings, but he went out and got the job done.”

Sidney finished with nine hits, with McEldowney, Subler, Berning and Knapke all going 2-for-4.

“The kid they started threw pretty hard,” said Koewler. “And he was at 115 pitches when they took him out in the seventh inning. Then the guy the brought it threw even harder. But we seem to make contact better on the faster pitchers.

“I think it’s good to get that first one out of the way,” he added. “We didn’t play til 7 o’clock and that’s a long time to sit around thinking about it. We hit in the cage at noon, did some throwing, and watched some of the Beverly-Lowell game. Then we went back to the motel to relax a little in the air conditioning before heading back. I wasn’t nervous. I just wanted to get out of there with a win.”

Sidney takes a 28-14 record into Thursday’s game.

The linescore:

`R`H`E

Sidney`001 110 100—4`9`0

Circleville`000 000 101—2`7`3

Winning pitcher: Josh Nixon

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