PLYMOUTH – There wasn’t much that didn’t work on Friday afternoon for Post 27’s Diamond Spyders as they moved to the championship game of the winners bracket in American Legion regional action at Bill Nixon Field.
Post 27 dominated Demotte Post 440 almost from the first pitch and took a gaudy 22-1 win to advance to a Saturday match up with Highland Post 180 for a spot in the regional title game.
“With everything that went our way, I guess it’s the next game your worried about now,” said Post 27 Manager Will Hostrawser. “That was the first time all year we had it pretty much clicking on all cylinders. I don’t know that (Nick) Willoughby was particularly sharp on the mound but he was sharp enough.. (Matt) Pritz has done a great job all year managing our pitchers, calming them down, getting them focused.”
While it was pitching and defense the night before in a hard fought win over Michigan City Post 37, it was an offensive explosion that brought the win on Friday. While Post 27 had only 13 hits, each one of them was timely.
While Demotte pitching struggled mightily with location all day – eight walks and five hit batters – it was hits in key spots that blew the game open. The biggest blow of the day – Brogan Briggs grand slam homer – came two hitters after a dropped third strike on leadoff man Benji Nixon that would have been out number three.
“Galen Rentschler had a couple of nice hits, (Billy) Harness and (Andrew) Cullers had hits off the wall, (Brogan) Briggs had another grand slam,” said Hostrawser. “We found our way onto the bases and we got some timely hits as well.”
Michael Machinic’s two RBI single set the tone driving in the first two runs of the game and Rentschler’s two run single in the same inning put the Diamond Spyders up 5-0 and they never looked back.
“To keep doing some things consistently I think is what we’re all after. The one thing with summer baseball – maybe this team more than many – we’re not all always here at once,” said Hostrawser. “I think we’re pretty competitive when everybody is here. Today we’re missing Travis Upp, Myles Jageman, our closer, and today we obviously didn’t need those guys, but when those pieces are all there it really gives you a lot of options.”
On the mound Post 27 didn’t need many options. Willoughby went the distance and escaped damage from nearly every Demotte rally. Giving Hostrawser the ability to save the rest of the Plymouth bullpen for later in the tournament could be absolutely key for the weekend goal.
Next in the path is Highland Post 180 in a 4 p.m game today, and that pitching will definitely be the key.
“They always come over here with a good ball club this time of year, a lot of guys that can hit the ball and hit it well,” said Hostrawser. “We have to do the little things. We have to take advantage of any errors, anything they give us on their part, run the bases smart, look to take the extra base, play the game it’s supposed to be played especially early.”
“Obviously we need good pitching and defense, we go into a nine inning game just figuring we’ll need three arms to get through it, so we’ll figure out who’s here and who can throw and we’ll go from there.”
Linescore
Post 440 Demotte 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1-5-1
Post 27 Plymouth 5-2 0 10 5 x 22-13-1
WP – Willoughby. LP – Porter. HR – Brogan (P) 3B – Harness (P). 2B – Whitehead (D), Porter (D), Nixon (P), Cullers (P).
