In the regular season finale for both teams, the St. Mary’s Post 255 (Morgan) squad outlasted La Plata Post 82 12-7 on Monday evening at La Plata High School as both teams prepare for the upcoming District Tournament that commences this evening.
Post 255 (Morgan) — one of three teams it entered in the Frank Riley League — jumped on La Plata starter Cole Barrett by scoring five times in the top of the first and the visitors added three more runs in the second, two in the fourth and three in the fifth. La Plata, however, refused to go away quietly and Post 82 made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth inning after St. Mary’s starter Nick Hevner departed.
Hevner would eventually earn the win while allowing five runs, three earned, in five complete innings, but it was closer Blaine Brashear who eventually saved the day, literally. La Plata’s Jaden Wismer drove in one run with a single then Thomas Conrad added another with a bases loaded walk. St. Mary’s coach Dwight Morgan then summoned Brashear into the contest to retire one batter on one pitch to earn the save.
“We had been using Blaine as a starter earlier in the season,” Morgan said. “But he came to me and said he felt like he should be the closer. So the last couple of games we’ve brought him in for closing and he’s done a great job. Nick gave us five really good innings and we scored some runs for him, so that helped.”
Hevner helped his own cause immediately by driving in a run in the first with a single then later Ashton Paschal punctuated the five-run frame with a two-run single. Paschal also plated a run in the second with a sacrifice fly to right, Luke Thompson added a two-run single in the drove in two more with a single in the fourth and Braden Langley collected three RBI despite going 0-for-3 at the plate, with one each on a walk, hit by pitch and fielder’s choice.
La Plata (8-4) will likely head into the District Tournament as the second seed and should host St. Mary’s Post 255 (Stefko) on Monday. St. Mary’s Post 255 (Bean) earned the top seed and will likely host St. Mary’s Post 255 (Morgan) on Monday.
“Today wasn’t our best effort,” La Plata Post 82 coach Matt Cooke said. “We walked a lot of guys and hit a few batters and just did not play a clean game. But we’re looking forward to the District Tournament. There’s a lot of good teams in our league this year.”
St. Mary’s Post 255 led 12-7 after six innings as sunset descended on La Plata, but the two teams initially agreed to play the seventh inning amid the darkening conditions.
St. Mary’s failed to score in the top of the frame but La Plata had several base runners reach in the bottom of the inning as the lack of daylight made fielding virtually impossible. With two runners aboard the home plate umpire halted the game when he was hit by a Brashear pitch that eluded the Post 255 catcher.
Most Popular
Comments / 0