LEGION BASEBALL: Post 13 takes semifinal opener against Wilson

By Aviel Smolka
Published in Sports on July 10, 2018 5:51 AM

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By AVIEL SMOLKA

asmolka@newsargus.com

Jack Casbarro was a jack-of-all-trades Monday evening.

His great game in the batter's box and on the pitcher's mound put Wayne County Post 11 in the driver's seat in its best-of-five Area I East playoff series against Wilson Post 13.

Casbarro went 1-for-4 at the plate, but his solo home run kick-started Wayne County, which pulled out a 6-4 win.

Game 2 is tonight at 7 p.m. at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.

"Jack's home run was huge," Post 11 head coach Adam Pate said. "If he didn't hit that we would've not been able to follow that up and start rolling."

Wilson came out aggressive and quickly put up a 2-0 lead.

"Their [Wilson Post 13] starting pitcher was really good tonight," Pate said. "He kept us off balance by being able to throw a lot strikes.

"We are not going to let up when we do get down a little bit. I think we had the right approach to keep playing hard.

Starting pitcher Blake Gipson pitched well.

He allowed three runs, walked two and threw five strikeouts. Casbarro took over in relief and got the save.

"Coach puts me where I need to be," said Casbarro. "I was just trying to do whatever I could to help the team win."

Wayne County took the lead in the fourth when Aryc Chrisman hit a two-RBI double, making the score 3-2.

Wilson managed to tie the game at 3-3 in the fifth with a home run, but Post 11 immediately took a 4-3 lead when Connor Vernon scored off a Casbarro groundout.

In the sixth Christian Yarbrough and Gipson both hit RBI singles to give Post 11 a 6-3 lead.

"Not our best offensive night, but we definitely had big hits at big times," Pate said.

Wilson attempted to mount one more comeback in the seventh making score 6-4, but they could not get any closer as Casbarro shut the door.

"The last pitch was the biggest moment for me, to finally put away the game," Casbarro said. "Coach always tell us to keep our heads in it, and to keep the mindset of without a doubt we're going to come away with the win."