MORGANTOWN — Late Wednesday night at the newly-christened Dale Miller Field at Mylan Park during its opening game against Harrison (Ohio) Post 199 during the American Legion Baseball Great Lakes Regional Tournament, Morgantown Post 2 was about as firmly in control as a Legion team can be.
Post 2 starting pitcher Reed Bailey was flat-out dealing, having surrendered no hits and having faced just one over the minimum through 4 2/3 innings, and behind RBI hits from Zach Owens, Anthony Marsh and Ethan Smith, Post 2 had forged a firm, if not comfortable, 3-0 lead.
And then the heavens opened, as an unexpected, extended thunderstorm drenched the field, forced a postponement until Thursday morning … and also forced a venue change to Mon County Ballpark.
So, at the particularly un-baseball-like time of 8:30 a.m., and with Bailey no longer permitted to pitch, Post 2 took the artificially turfed field, hoping that its momentum hadn’t been reversed after the storm. Although the inevitable pushback from a fine Ohio state championship team came in full force, Morgantown managed to survive and prevail for an exciting, crucial 3-2 win.
The game resumed with two outs in the bottom of the 5th with Morgantown closer Zach Brennan on the mound, and after a lead-off walk, he induced a harmless fly to center to end the inning. Although Post 2 wasn’t able to add on in the top of the 6th, Brennan cruised through the first two Post 199 hitters in the 6th — and that’s when the pushback began in earnest.
Caleb Partin dumped Harrison’s first hit into right, then Cort Kramer drilled an RBI triple to the right-center wall. Zak Williams’ RBI single made it 3-2, and then the play of the morning came after Jimmy Ramsey ground a single to left. Williams’ over-aggressive try for third gave Post 2 leftfielder Jacob Kennell an excellent chance to gun him down, but his throw airmailed third and ended up behind the plate, where catcher Ty Galusky alertly relayed the errant throw to Brennan covering at the plate, to nail Williams and stop the bleeding.
Up 3-2 in the top of the final inning, Post 2 had a chance with two outs to pad their lead, but Partin’s alert fake at third base after Aaron Forbes’ infield single caught Avante Neal off the bag after a wide turn to end the inning. So it all came down to Ohio’s last ups, and after Brennan plunked the first batter (on an 0-2 pitch, no less), a deceptively calm line score of pop to short, line to left, and strikeout earned Brennan the save and Post 2 an escape from the Loser’s Bracket.
“We felt confident after last night,” Forbes said. “Even though we knew Reed was done after last night — and he was really pitching well — it was good to sleep in our own beds, then come out and take care of our business. Zach pitched out of trouble like he has all year for us, and this was a win we had to have, to guarantee us a game on Friday. It feels good.”
Despite losing to Bridgeport in the Area final, Post 2 manager Andy Altemus wasn’t at all surprised with his team’s solid performance against a quality opponent.
“We took a couple days off completely after the Area tournament,” he said, “and they came back with some of our best practices yet, and it was obvious that they started to believe that we could get back to playing the way we’re capable. Wednesday night the energy and crowd were great, and of course, we wished we could’ve continued. But with Reed only throwing 56 pitches, he’ll be available on Saturday, which could be big for us, considering how well he’s throwing right now.
“We knew they’d come at us today,” he continued, “and I thought we did a great job handling the adversity. Zach did what good closers do — he forgot about the past, remained confident, and gutted it out. And I hope that we see that we are far from overmatched here. The teams at this Regional are all very good — but so are we, and we can play with any of them, including Kentucky tonight (at 7:30 p.m. at Mylan Park).”
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