The slow start to the summer season did not drag down the Sidney Post 217 baseball team. Instead, the local club dragged down five straight opponents this past weekend, playing like it had something to prove.

Losers of 12 of the first 16 games against tough competition, the club hit the field at Vandalia-Butler on Sunday competing for the “gold” and then won the Best of Ohio Showcase after streaking to a fifth consecutive victory over a four-day span.

For sure, Post 217 (9-12-1) is starting to gel.

Blending 18 players from eight different high school programs, Post 217 is displaying bats which are getting hot, stroking timely, run-scoring hits; and also displaying arms which are starting to hum, throwing first pitch strikes and limiting baserunners, inning after inning.

Sidney nailed down the Gold Division championship of the 14-team event behind the pin-point control of hurler Maverick Grudich from Fort Loramie. The local Legion squad whipped Westerville, 5-1. Gavin Roberts from Sidney and Titus Gehret from Versailles each cracked a pair of hits.

Now playing its best brand of baseball, Sidney is primed for a big week of important games against four different clubs in a stretch of only 3 1/2 days. Troy Post 43 and Piqua Post 184 come to town at Custenborder Field on Tuesday and Wednesday for 7 p.m. starts.

Post 217 then hits the road for Lancaster and its annual Fourth of July American Legion Tournament, tangling with Pickerington on Thursday at 2:30 and Utica on Friday at 12 noon.

If you can’t make it to the park for Wednesday’s clash with Piqua, join ScoresBroadcast.com’s Jack Kramer and Bryant Billing for the play-by-play action starting at 6:25 p.m. New Sidney head coach Jacob Peters is featured in the pregame segment.

By combined scores of 42-13 at the Best of Ohio, the Sidney Legion offense wore out the pitching offered by a team from Westerville, another from primarily Troy and Tipp City, one from Springfield and Clark County, and two more known as “Turn Two” from Columbus and the “Rip Tide” from West Michigan. Event rosters were represented by mostly 17 and 18 year olds.

Noah McEldowney from Versailles went 4 for 5 at the plate as Sidney crushed Springfield Armoly, 9-4, in Saturday’s first victory. McEldowney also sizzled in the second triumph of the day, powering a grand slam in a seven-run third inning as Post 217 routed the bunch from Wolverine country, 10-4. Gabe Link from Marion Local belted another round-tripper in that game.

On Friday, Link and Xavier Phlipot from Russia each pounded two hits in a 5-1 decision over “Turn Two.” McEldowney lined two base knocks, Link scored three times, and Brayden Monnin from Russia chased home two runs in a 13-1 blow out over a Miami County-based team earlier in the day.

Sidney hurlers excelled at the Showcase. Grudich, Roberts, Phlipot and Monnin, along with AJ Griesdorn and Titus Gehret from Versailles and Jacob Felts from Piqua, all logged numerous strong innings. Clearly, pitching depth is an asset of this 2023 Legion squad. In fact, several additional dual-role players, including Dylan Sanders from Fort Loramie and David Brunner from Lehman, are fresh and ready, if needed, for upcoming assignments on the bump.

Brunner handcuffed Troy with nine strikeouts in seven innings in a close early season road triumph. Joel Gehret of Versailles clubbed home the game-winner in that 5-4 nine-inning verdict. Felts was sharp in relief to earn the W. Post 217 has notched wins over Troy in three straight duels.

Felts, Brunner, Titus Gehret and Wyatt Bisbee of Sidney fanned nine Greenville batters and allowed only one earned run in Post 217’s other league victory, 8-2.

Now within three games of the .500 mark at 9-12, the Sidney group has its full roster of 18 for most every contest.

“We’re joining together as a unit, competing hard pitch after pitch and play after play, and benefiting from our collective talents and skills,” Coach Peters said. He added that this team is doing the little things it takes to win games like “bunting to advance runners and spoiling borderline pitches at the plate to extend the pitch counts of opposing hurlers.”

He stated, “We’re playing well and having a lot of fun doing it.”

Peters lauded the high school baseball coaches and players in this region of Ohio, when he noted that “our area programs play the best small school baseball in this part of the state.”

The Russia Raiders amassed a 51-12 record over two years, winning a state title in Division IV in 2022 and finishing second in Ohio in the 2023 state tournament earlier this month. Fort Loramie topped Russia twice in the regular season and won the Shelby County Athletic League with a perfect mark of 12-0.

Versailles from the Midwest Athletic Conference advanced to the D-III district final near the end of May. Marion Local and Minster also slugged it out this spring with St. Henry, Coldwater, Delphos St. John’s and the rest of the potent MAC schools.

Piqua baseball won 19 games on the diamond. Sidney paced the Valley Division of the Miami Valley League. Lehman concluded at 11-11 and dropped eight games by one single run, preventing the Cavaliers from earning victories in several more.

“Our Legion kids come from programs that love playing this game,” Peters said.

Following some down time after the finish of their high school seasons, the Post 217 hitters appear to be back in a groove at the plate, spraying the ball to all fields. The team batting average has climbed from under .240 a week ago to above .265.

Titus Gehret leads the way hitting at a .370 clip. Roberts has hammered home 19 runs; and Link, 18. Link has drilled seven extra-base hits.

Bill Lonsbury, president of the American Legion Post 217 baseball committee, said this summer’s team has been “a joy to create, to watch perform, and to promote game after game.”

And even a bigger joy as the local Legion club begins to realize its full potential.