Staff report
LANCASTER — Things looked good after two innings Friday night in the State American Legion Baseball Tournament in Lancaster.
Sidney Post 217 was facing elimination after losing earlier in the day, but plated a run in the first and three more in the second to jump out to a 4-1 lead against Sandusky.
But in the bottom of the third, Sandusky scored four times and never trailed again in beating Sidney 6-4 and ending Post 217’s season with a final 28-16 mark.
Sandusky went on to lose its next game to Beverly-Lowell to also be eliminated.
Beverly-Lowell and Napoleon met in the championship round Sunday.
“We jumped out with a run in the first, then got three in the second to lead 4-1, and I was feeling pretty good about it,” said Sidney coach Jim Koewler. “But the next thing I know, they have two guys on in the third and we give up a three-run homer. We seem to score in the first two or three innings and then just hope to survive, and we couldn’t get anything else going.”
Post 217 managed only three singles the rest of the way. They sent five batters to the plate in two of those innings, but not more than four in the other five frames.
Sidney took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Austin McLain led off the game with a base hit and later scored on a passed ball.
Sandusky matched Sidney in its half of the first, but Sidney came right back and plated three more runs in the top of the second after two were out.
It started with Dion Puthoff coaxing a one-out walk, then Josh Nixon flew out to left field. Zach White then singled and McLain walked ahead of a bases-clearing triple by Keeton McEldowney.
After that, however, Post 217 was blanked the rest of the way, and Sandusky came right back to take a 5-4 lead with four in the third inning, the big blow being the three-run homer by Dawson Nason after the first two hitters in the inning reached on a walk and a single.
Sandusky then added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth.
“We started CJ Billing and he’s done a good, consistent job of keeping the ball down this season,” said Koewler. “But he got some pitches up and it cost him. I brought in Jack Dapore in the third and he finished out the game and did one heck of a job.
“I’m very pleased with the season we had,” Koewler said. “We faced three real good ball teams in the state tournament. Beverly-Lowell was one of the favorites coming in, and Sandusky and Circleville had some real good pitching. Things didn’t go too well for us, but we still had a great year.”
Banquet
The American Legion Baseball Banquet will be held on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Legion Hall in Sidney.
The guest speaker will be University of Toledo head baseball coach Cory Mee.
The banquet is open to the public and for reservations, call Bill Lonsbury at 937-654-1434, Jim Muhlenkamp at 937-726-6698 or Koewler at 937-726-0769.
The linescore:
`R`H`E
Sidney`130 000 000—4`6`2
Sandusky`104 010 000—6`10`2
Billing (LP), Dapore (3) and White; Haynes and Hodgkinson.
