MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After a COVID-ruined 2020 season, the American Legion Morgantown Post 2 baseball team finally got back out on the Mylan Park diamond Friday night to begin its condensed, four-week regular season with a wood bat weekend tournament.
There was no time to ease into their summer schedule, as it faced 10-time Maryland state champion Funkstown Post 211.
In any tight Legion game, it’s usually the team that takes advantage of mistakes while minimizing their own that prevails, and this time, Morgantown found a way to score four runs on an infield single in the bottom of the 6th to roar from behind and capture a gritty 5-3 victory.
Post 2 (1-0) jumped out on top in the first inning when leadoff hitter Avante Neal stroked a single over short, moved to third on Aaron Forbes’ double to right, and scored when Zach Brennen absorbed a never-painful RBI hit-by-pitch. Post 2’s long lefty starter Reed Bailey used an effective breaking ball and slider combination to pound the zone through three straight shutout innings.
Finally touched for two hits in the 4th, Bailey almost escaped, but a botched pick-off resulted in a self-inflicted unearned run, allowing Funkstown to knot the score, 1-1. While Post 2 was stranding a whopping 10 runners in the first four frames, the Maryland defending champs broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth, the big blow Cameron Day’s ringing opposite field RBI double into the right center gap.
Bailey looked to be in some more trouble in the sixth, with a runner in scoring position, but a slick 3-3-6 double squelched the rally and snagged back the momentum. The Morgantown offense finally found a way to grind out a game-deciding rally. With one out, Jacob Kennell was hit by a pitch, then Forbes, pinch hitter Tony Marsh, and Domenic Colasante drew consecutive walks to plate two runs and tie the score. Then, with runners and second and third and two out, Ty Galusky muscled an infield hit past the mound, then raced to second on a throwing error as both runners scored.
“I took a two-strike approach, for sure,” Galusky said, “because I definitely wanted to at least put barrel to ball and give us a chance to make something happen. I didn’t get a lot of it, but it was enough to go our way.”
Despite the long bottom of the 6th, Bailey had no doubt that he was ready to finish the job in the top of the seventh, and other than a harmless one-out single, he wrapped his gem with a final scoreless inning.
“I was still fresh,” Bailey said. “I knew I had been pretty efficient (79 pitches heading into the final frame), so I just went out there and tried to make them earn everything. We have a strong defense, and my job is to let them do their job. We got it done tonight against a good team.”
After the game, Post 2 manager Andy Altemus enjoyed his first official Legion win, especially his starter’s performance.
“We want our pitchers to pound the zone,” he said. “Even if they are missing in the zone, that’s okay. Think about it — we gave them one run, and they had to work hard to get the other two. We scored four in the sixth by taking advantage of a series of mistakes, and that’s a great way to steal wins. We left a ton of guys on base – and we have to get better at getting them in — but at least we were giving ourselves plenty of chances against a very good team.
“This one had a Regional tournament feel. Low-scoring, pretty tight, good defense, few mistakes. It was good to come out on top, for sure.”
Post 2 is back in action Saturday with a day-night doubleheader, with the first game against Uniontown set for 2:30 p.m. and the second game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. against Cumberland.
Box score
FUNKSTOWN POST 211 (2-1)
Dillon Smith lf 4 0 0 0 Cameron Day cf 3 1 1 1 Josh Black 1b-p 2 0 1 1 Kameron Jackson dh 3 1 1 0 Noland Genies 3b 30 2 0 John Hill c 2 0 0 0 Cole Brechbill 2b 3 0 0 0 Devon Creary rf 1 0 0 0 Trey Baker ph-rf 1 1 0 0 Brian Schrodel ss 2 0 1 0 Graham Spitz p 0 0 0 0 Eddie Lough p 0 0 0 0 Totals 24 3 6 2.
MORGANTOWN POST 2 (1-0)
Avante Neal cf 4 1 3 0 Jacob Kennell lf 3 1 1 0 Aaron Forbes 3b 2 1 1 0 Caleb Cottle dh 3 0 0 0 Tony Marsh ph 0 1 0 0 Domenic Colasante 2b 2 1 1 1 Zach Brennan 1b 3 0 0 1 Ty Galusky c 3 0 2 1 Cody Thomas ss 3 0 0 0 Ethan Smith rf 3 0 0 0 Reed Bailey p 0 0 0 0 Totals 26 5 8 3.
Funkstown 000 120 0 – 3
Morgantown 100 004 X – 5
Extra base hits
2B – Morgantown 2 (Forbes, Colasante). 3B – Funkstown 1 (Day). SH – Funkstown 2 (Hill, Schrodel).
Pitching
Funkstown – Spitz 5.1 ip 3 r 3 er 7 h 4 bb 10 so, Lough (L) 0 ip (faced two in 6th) 2 r 1 er 0 h 2 bb 0 so, Black 0.2 ip 0 r 0 er 1 h 1 bb 1 so.
Morgantown – Bailey (W) 7 ip 3 r 3 er 6 h 1 bb 7 so.
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