Pickerington Post 283 stays alive in Legion Tournament
LANCASTER - After suffering a heartbreaking 4-3 loss on Wednesday against Circleville Post 134 in the opening round of the American Legion State tournament, Pickerington Post 283 had one objective in mind Thursday: win and advance.
Post 283 once again struggled with its defense by committing three errors and giving up two unearned runs against St. Clairsville Post 159, but Pickerington was able to overcome its miscues by scoring early and also received some outstanding pitching in a 6-2 victory at Beavers Field.
Pickerington (35-11) moves on and will play at 10 a.m. Friday back at Beavers Field.
Post 283 got on the board in the bottom of the first inning without recording a hit. Connor Ayers walked, Jack Shepherd was hit by a pitch and Evan Young walked to load the bases. Mitch Lohr worked the count before walking to force home Ayers. Brandon Harlan then hit a sacrifice fly to plate another run to give Pickerington a 2-0 lead.
“Any time you can get a lead early, it plays potentially in your favor, but it is a nine-inning game, and that is totally different than a seven-inning game,” Post 283 coach Chris Weber said. “There are more outs, and six may not seem like a lot, but it is.
“We have to get better defensively. We are alive, and that is all that matters. We know we will have another tough one tomorrow, but we expect to win it.”
Pickerington was able to garner some breathing room in the fifth inning by scoring three runs.
After a groundout, Young singled and Lohr doubled to put runners at second and third. Harlan singled home Young, and after another groundout, Nick Whetnall came through with a clutch two-out double to score two more runs.
Pickerington starting pitcher Kyle Gannon was cruising along until the sixth inning, when he gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases, but he was able to record a huge strikeout to get out of the inning unscathed.
“Kyle pitched his way into it and it was his problem so he needed to fix it himself,” Weber said. “Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t, but he has some poise and enough mound presence to get out of jams. He did a nice job in that situation.”
Gannon gave up two unearned runs in the seventh inning and St. Clairsville (33-8) still had the bases loaded when Thomas Green came on in relief. He was able to get out of the inning by inducing an infield popup.
Pickerington added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Andrew Troup walked with the bases loaded.
A.J. Snyder pitched in relief in the eighth and ninth inning for Post 283.
Harlan, who came off the bench Wednesday and went 3-for-3, had two more hits, two runs and two RBIs to lead Pickerington’s seven-hit attack.
“We have been in this situation where we’ve had our backs against the wall and had to win,” Weber said. “We don’t care who is in the other dugout. We are playing against the game. We have to get better with our defense and we need be a little more dialed in at the plate and a little more disciplined. This is a great group, and they are tight, and I think that helps them.”
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