Regardless of their performance in the Maryland State American Legion Tournament last weekend at Joe Cannon Stadium in Anne Arundel County, the St. Mary's Post 255 baseball team was assured of a spot in the upcoming American Legion Mid-Atlantic Region II Tournament that it will be hosting Aug. 7-11 at the same venue.
St. Mary's Post 255 coaches and players were hoping to go into the region tournament with some momentum, but Sunday morning they were eliminated from the state tournament. Post 255 suffered a 3-1 setback to Severn Post 276 on Sunday morning, one day after it rebounded from a 1-0 loss to Cumberland Post 13 by trouncing Caroline Post 29 22-0 in five innings.
After sweeping its way through the Frank Riley American Legion District Tournament at Chancellor's Run Regional Park, Post 255 found itself in an epic, dramatic affair to kick off the Maryland State Tournament. Post 255 and Cumberland Post 13 battled through a scoreless deadlock for 10 innings before eventually suffering a 1-0 setback in 11 innings last Friday.
Post 255 starting pitcher Will Buckler, a recent Leonardtown High School graduate who tossed a complete game shutout when the Raiders defeated Walt Whitman 2-0 to capture the 4A state title in May, dueled with Cumberland ace Parker Ferraro for six scoreless innings before giving way to relievers Davey Reynolds and Sam Canady.
Buckler tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings before being spelled by Reynolds with one runner on base in the sixth. Buckler had reached the 80 pitch limit for being available for another outing when Post 255 coach Jason Bean hooked him in favor of Reynolds, who retired the lone batter he faced that inning. Ferraro tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings last Friday, but needed 96 pitches and did not factor in the decision and would not be available for a possible rematch.
"Will was outstanding I was hoping to get a quick sixth inning there before making the switch to Davey," Bean said. "But when he got to his 80th pitch it was a 3-1 count then Davey came in and got the guy out on two pitches, so I still have Will for the rest of the tournament."
Cumberland had the best chance to score first and perhaps even multiple runs in the home half of the fourth against Buckler, but the Post 255 southpaw and his infielders would not relent. With the bases loaded and none out, Buckler induced Cumberland batter Peyton Wallace to ground into a 5-2-3 double play then retired the next batter on a fly out to center.
St. Mary's Post 255 then had the chance to take the lead in the top of the fifth when the game witnessed another momentum shift. Hunter Lee led off the inning with a double to left center but was thrown out at third on a close play attempting to stretch it into a triple. Two batters later Canady singled, but Lee had been erased earlier and could not score the go-ahead run.
Cumberland loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth against Buckler following a two-out throwing error by Caleb Bean, a single and a walk, but the southpaw again escaped harm by retiring the last Post 13 batter on a fly ball to left. Buckler retired the first two batters in the sixth before yielding a walk then was hooked for Reynolds, who retired the lone batter he faced that frame on a fly ball to center.
Cumberland again loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th against Canady but failed to score, but Post 13 finally ended the prolonged contest in the 11th. Wallace worked Canady for a leadoff walk, stole second then took third on a wild pitch. Logan Van Meter finally ended it with a long sacrifice fly to left that enabled Wallace to jog home with the winning run.
One day after being blanked over 11 innings in a tough setback, Post 255 rebounded in a big way the following morning. St. Mary's scored one run in the second, three in the third, 12 in the fourth and sixth more in the fifth en route to a 22-0 victory over Caroline Post 29. Ryan Brown went 1-for-1, walked four times, scored five runs and drove in four more on Saturday morning.
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