SIDNEY — After beating Piqua Post 184 in a low-scoring game last Wednesday, Sidney Post 217 Red clobbered two pitchers and earned a 13-7 victory in an American Legion baseball game on Tuesday at Custenborder Field.
The victory improved Post 217’s Red squad, which was scheduled to host Troy Post 43 on Wednesday, to 8-10 overall. It was the team’s second consecutive victory against Piqua; the squad beat Post 184 3-2 last Wednesday.
Sidney accumulated eight hits in six innings, drew six walks and had two batters hit by Post 184 pitchers Brayden Offenbacher and Damon Lawson.
The team took advantage of several errors by Piqua Post 184 and built a 7-3 lead after three innings. Piqua pulled within 8-6 in the top of the sixth, but Post 217 Red scored five runs in the bottom of the inning to pull away.
Hayden Wibbler picked up the win for the Red team. He pitched five innings and gave up three earned runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out two batters. Wyatt Bisbee pitched two innings in relief. He gave up four hits and hit two batters.
Xavier Philpot was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs while Aiden Shappie was 2 for 3 with 1 RBI and one triple. Evan Eilerman was 1 for 2 with one double and one walk and John Davidson was 1 for 3 with one double and one walk. Leadoff hitter Derek Meyer drew three walks.
Post 184 took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
After the first two batters hit into routine outs, Cameron Deal singled on a hard grounder to center field and Desmond Warner drew a walk. Iverson Ventura then hit a 2-RBI double to center field.
Sidney Post 217 Red took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Meyer drew a walk, then Wibbler hit a single to right field. Carson Regula drove in one run on a fly out to center field, then Eilerman hit a double to left field to score another run and tie it 2-2.
Eilerman moved to third on a passed ball, then scored when Philpot singled on a hard grounder.
Piqua tied it 3-3 in the top of the second. Luke Wolfgram Evans led off the inning with a double to right field and moved to third after Evan Hensler singled on a fly to shallow right. Wolfgram Evans then scored when Aiden Ike flew out to center field.
But Post 217 Red took the lead for good in the bottom half without getting a hit.
Gavin Roberts was hit a by pitch to start the squad off. Taran Fleckenstein hit an infield ground out for the first out, but Meyer then drew a walk and Wibbler reached on an error after an infield throwing error, which allowed Roberts to score from third and give the team a 4-3 lead.
Regula drove in one run on an infield groundout, and Wibbler scored before the end of the inning on a passed ball to push the advantage to 6-3.
Shappie tripled to lead of the third and later scored on a passed ball to increase the lead to 7-3. He scored again in the bottom of the fifth. He hit a single with two outs, then scored when Davidson hit a double.
Piqua Post 184, which accumulated 13 hits, had runners in every inning but was hurt by baserunning miscues, including in the fourth and fifth innings when Sidney threw runners out at home plate.
Piqua made a run in the top of the sixth, though.
Bisbee hit Wolfgram Evans to start the inning. After Hensler hit a fielder’s choice groundout and was safe at first, Ike hit a double to center field. Damon Lawson hit an infield pop out for the second out, but Zavier Ludwig was hit by a pitch.
Hensler scored on a passed ball while Deal was at the plate to shrink the gap to 8-4. Deal walked, then Warner reached on an error that allowed Ike to score. Ventura then reached on an error that allowed Ludwig to score and close the gap to 8-6.
But Post 217 Red scored five runs in the bottom half to pull away.
Roberts was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Ty Ruhenkamp drew a walk. Meyer drew a walk to load the bases, then Bisbee reached on an error that allowed Roberts to score.
Regula struck out for the first out, but Ruhenkamp scored on a passed ball while Gabriel Link was at the plate. Link walked, then Philpot hit a 2-RBI single to increase the lead to 12-6. Shappie then drove in a run on a ground out to push the lead to seven runs.
Post 184 added one run in the top of the seventh off two hits and one Sidney throwing error to close the final gap to six runs.
