Tuesday afternoon when the La Plata Post 82 squad edged St. Mary’s Legion Post 255 with a score of 3-2 at La Plata High School, Post 82 relief pitcher and recent La Plata graduate Evan Adams emerged virtually unscathed in a pair of bases loaded jams.
La Plata (4-1) had actually opened the season with a 3-0 setback to Post 255 — a loaded group split into three teams this summer — then appeared destined for a similar setback on Tuesday as the St. Mary’s squad loaded the bases on three different occasions. In two of them, with Post 255 threatening to break the game open, Adams escaped virtually unharmed.
La Plata had staked starting pitcher Cole Barrett to a 2-0 lead by scoring twice in the home half of the second. Nate Michael had a one-out double then Barrett drive in the first run with a single to left center and Cam Gill followed with another single to left that scored Barrett. Gill, however, was erased at second attempting to attain the extra base on the play.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players on this team,” said La Plata Post 82 coach Matt Cooke. “Sometimes they get a little too aggressive on the bases and today we ran into a couple of outs. But we also got four great innings from Evan Adams and our defense was tremendous.”
St. Mary’s (3-2) drew even in the top of the fourth inning as Post 255 chased Barrett. Caleb Elliott singled, stole second then scored on a single to center by Davey Reynolds to trim the host’s lead to 2-1. After Barrett walked a St. Mary’s batter to load the bases, Post 82 coach Matt Cooke hooked him in favor of Adams in his first of two genuine acid tests of the outing.
With the bases loaded and none out, Adams induced Post 255 pitcher Caleb Bean to ground into a 6-4-3 double play in which Reynolds scored the tying run, although Bean would not be credited with the RBI in that situation. Adams retired the next St. Mary’s batter to escape serious damage and keep the game tied, with the inherited run charged to Barrett.
In the home half of the fifth, Adams worked Bean for a two-out walk then scoed when Ellie delivered a sharp single into left. As was the case three innings earlier with Gill, Ellis was gunned down at second seeking to attain the extra base. But his RBI single nevertheless lifted Post 82 to a 3-2 lead.
Adams finally encountered serious trouble in the top of the seventh, yielding a one-out walk to Jared Harry, a single to Hunter Lee then a walk to Elliott. With the tying and lead runs already in scoring position, however, Adams again escaped unharmed when he induced Reynolds to hit into a game-ending 1-2-3 double play that he started.
“In both [bases loaded] situations, I felt like I had really good control of my emotions,” said Adams, who tossed four scoreless innings of relief to collect the win. “I wasn’t trying to overthrow or strike out anybody. I just wanted to make good pitches and let my defense do the work. That last grounder back to me, all I kept thinking was just make a chest high throw to the catcher.”
St. Mary’s Post 255 suffered its second straight narrow defeat in two days, having lost one night earlier in extra innings to another split squad. Post 255, which will host the American Legion East Regional Tournament the first week of August, is divided into three squads during the summer league slate — Bean, Morgan and Stefko, named for their respective managers.
“It’s like I told the guys after the game, we had the opportunities today,” Post 255 coach Jason Bean said. “We just left too many runners [12] on base. A lot of credit has to go out to their pitchers. They got out of some tough jams. Caleb pitched well, but we needed to get one or two hits in key situations to give him the lead.”
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