Late rallies knock Post 346 out of American Legion tournament
Jun. 17—More often than not Saturday afternoon, Wayne Newton Post 346 appeared to be headed for Sunday's championship round of the John Hayes Best of the Midwest Invitational at Terre Haute North's Don Jennings Field.
But Lafayette Post 11 rallied twice in the last two innings, first for a tie and then for a come-from-behind win, and advanced in the American Legion baseball tournament with a 10-6 victory.
Post 346 took the lead in the bottom of the second inning and didn't trail until the sixth, in a game shortened by the tournament's two-hour time limit, but completed its weekend with a 2-2 record — and with an optimistic attitude toward the rest of the summer.
"We wanted to represent [longtime Post 346 manager] John Hayes and win the tourney, for which we're the defending champion," manager David Will said after the game. "But we're finally getting our whole roster on hand, so that's progress moving forward."
Lafayette got just one run in a top of the first inning that included three walks, a hit and two Terre Haute errors before a two-out strikeout with the bases loaded. An RBI single by Sammy Halada gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.
Post 346 rallied in the bottom of that inning, however, taking a 3-2 lead on a rally that started when Riley Huckaby was hit by a pitch and Isaak Osborne, Tyler Will and Tucker Helton followed with singles. Will and Helton each drove in a row, and the go-ahead score came when Will came in on a wild pitch.
Ben Kearns came on in relief and pitched two perfect innings, and the home team got its fourth run in the bottom of the fourth when Coy Edwards got an infield hit and scored on a two-out triple by Kearns.
A slow pace of play in the first two innings was bringing the time limit into the picture, and Kearns continued his mound streak by retiring the first two batters in the top of the fifth. A walk and a hit batter broke the spell, however, and a double by Aidan Lowry and a single by Maysen Meyers tied the score.
No harm, no foul it appeared, because Post 346 matched those two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a hit by Logan Nicoson, an error, a run-scoring wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Will. Now the game was nearly two hours old, and the sixth inning was going to be the last one no matter how long it lasted.
It lasted quite a while, as it turned out. The first four Lafayette hitters got hits, the next two reached on a walk and a hit batter, and six runs scored before it was over.
"We came in [to the tournament] averaging 2.2 runs per game, and we averaged more than six [25 runs in four games] against good competition," David Will pointed out, "so we're improving on offense . . . we're moving in the right direction."
LAFAYETTE POST 11 (AB-R-H-RBI) — Hallada ss 4-1-2-3, Coble 3b 4-1-1-1, Payne cf 1-3-0-0, McNeff 1b 1-2-0-0, Lowry rf 2-0-1-2, Meyers dh 4-0-2-1, Slate p 0-0-0-0, Turnpaugh p 0-0-0-0, Gothrup lf 4-0-1-1, Cobb c 1-1-0-0, Franceschina ph 1-0-1-0, Zimmer pr 1-1-0-0, Davis c 0-0-0-0, Kelly 2b 3-1-1-0. Totals 26-10-9-8.
WAYNE NEWTON POST 346 (AB-R-H-RBI) — Kearns cf-p 3-0-2-1, Carpenter lf-cf 3-0-0-0, Nicoson dh-rf 4-1-1-0, Stultz p 0-0-0-0, Jenkins 1b 3-0-0-0, Huckaby c 2-2-0-0, Osborne rf-lf 2-1-1-0, Will ss 2-1-1-2, Helton 3b 3-0-2-1, Edwards 2b 3-1-1-0. Totals 25-6-8-4.
Lafayette 110 026 — 10
Post 346 030 120 — 6
E — Jenkins, Huckaby, Hallada 2, Carpenter. LOB — Lafayette 7, WN 6. 2B — Lowry, Hallada, Kearns. 3B — Kearns. SB — Hallada, Payne 2, McNeff 2, Kearns, Carpenter. SF — Will, Lowry.
Lafayette IP H R ER BB SO
Slate (W) 5 7 6 3 3 5
Turnpaugh 1 1 0 0 0 2
Wayne Newton IP H R ER BB SO
Stultz 2 2 2 2 4 3
Kearns (L) 4 7 8 7 1 5
HBP — by Slate (Huckaby), by Kearns (Meyers), by Kearns (Payne). WP — Stultz, Slate 5. PB — Cobb 2. T — 2:24.
Next — Wayne Newton Post 346 (4-5) plays Wednesday at Vincennes University against Evansville Pate. Lafayette advanced to Sunday's semifinals with a 5-2 record.
Thursday's games
Madison 4, Post 346 3
Kokomo 10, Lafayette 9
Washington (Mo.) 7, Crawfordsville 0
Kokomo 10, Nashville (Tenn.) Flyers 3
Danville (Ind.) 10, Lake County 3
Elsberry (Mo.) 13, Flyers 3
Danville (Ill.) 6, Crawfordsville 0
Post 346 9, Danville (Ind.) 4
Friday's games
Kokomo 5, Elsberry 4
Madison 14, Danville (Ind.) 1
Danville (Ill.) 4, Lancaster (Ohio) 1
Madison 4, Lake County 0
Lafayette 16, Flyers 0
Washington 7, Lancaster 3
Lafayette 14, Elsberry 4
Post 346 7, Lake County 2
Saturday's games
Lancaster 6, Crawfordsville 4
Washington 13, Danville (Ill.) 6
Flyers 7, Danville (Ind.) 3, consolation game
Crawfordsville 5, Lake County 0, consolation game
Lafayette 10, Post 346 6, quarterfinal
Kokomo 5, Danville (Ill.) 2, quarterfinal
Washington 3, Lancaster 1, quarterfinal
Madison 2, Elsberry 1, quarterfinal
Sunday schedule, all at North
9:30 p.m. — Madison vs. Lafayette
Noon — Washington vs. Kokomo
2:30 p.m. — Championship
