After vaulting to a 7-0 lead through the first two innings of its American Legion contest against St. Mary’s Post 255 (Stefko) on Tuesday evening, the La Plata Post 82 squad withstood a late rally for a 7-5 victory as dusk loomed at Chancellor’s Run Regional Park.
La Plata (7-2) got to St. Mary’s Post 255 starter Bryson Fenwick in the first two innings, getting three runs in the top of the first then four more in the second courtesy of a two-out grand slam from Jaiden Wismer. But the Post 82 squad failed to score another run over the next five innings against Post 255 reliever Troy Jordan and things would get very interesting late.
In fact, St. Mary’s Post 255 chipped away at the deficit by getting one run in the third, two in the fourth, one in the sixth and another in the seventh. Most of the drama occurred after La Plata coach Matt Cooke hooked reliever Evan Adams for left-handed hurler Thomas Conrad with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth. it was the first of two stressful innings for Conrad, who collected a well earned save for his work.
“I just wanted to come in and throw strikes and let my defense make the plays behind me,” said Conrad, a rising senior at La Plata. “I just tried to stay with my fastball and change up. My curve was not working in warmups, so I just avoided throwing that pitch.”
The first batter that Conrad faced in the sixth was Austin Michael, who plated a run on a sacrifice fly to deep right. Then Post 255 batter A.J. Stefko appeared to hit a bloop single into shallow left, but the home plate umpire called Stefko out for stepping on home plate when making contact with the pitch — credited as an unassisted putout for the catcher — and Post 255 still trailed 7-4.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Post 255 again sought to embark on an improbable rally. Drew Watson, Henry Multumyr and Donovan Brown each singled then Watson scored on an error by Conrad. But the southpaw retired Austin Wood on a pop-up to second base, preserving the 7-5 victory for the visitors.
“We had a good weekend in a tournament down in North Carolina, winning three of four,” St. Mary’s Post 255 coach Tony Stefko said. “We just spotted them too many runs early. That’s the difference between getting ahead in the count and getting behind in the count. We definitely had our chances at the end.”
St. Mary’s Post 255 got two runs in the bottom of the fourth, although a base running mistake prevented the hosts from doing further damage. With one out, Wood singled then Michael followed with a deep shot to center. But Michael would only get credited with one RBI and a single in that at-bat because one of the Post 255 lead runners was caught in a rundown.
La Plata failed to score a single run after Wismer’s grand slam in the second, but Post 82 coach Matt Cooke’s squad had enough of an advantage to hold off the late surge from Post 255. Adams earned the win in relief, allowing three runs in 2 1/3 and Conrad collected a stressful save while limiting Post 255 to one earned run in 1 2/3 innings.
“That’s a really good team over there,” Cooke said. “We’re fortunate to jump on them early. After we got those seven runs early their pitcher shut us down. They’re a young team, but they’re really good.”
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