LEGION BASEBALL: Post 11 faces elimination from Area I East playoffs

By Aviel Smolka
Published in Sports on July 12, 2018 5:51 AM

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By AVIEL SMOLKA

asmolka@newsargus.com

For the first time all season, Wayne County Post 11 has lost back-to-back games.

Now it faces elimination from the Area I East Division playoffs.

Wilson Post 13 held on for a 6-5 win in Game 3 and leads the best-of-five series 2-1. Game 4 is tonight at Fleming Stadium.

"We're the number one seed, we've had great season, but I told the boys repeatedly no one is going to feel sorry us," Post 11 head coach Adam Pate said.

"It's tough that we're down 2-1, but I love this group of guys. They always play hard and if anyone can come back, they can."

Jalyn Melton and Parker Garris dominated.

They never let Post 11's offense find its groove.

"They [Melton and Garris] played really well tonight," said Pate. "They kept us off balance. You saw why they are going to pitch at the next level."

Post 11 struck first on Conner Vernon's RBI double.

Wilson answered with a two-RBI double.

The wheels started to fall for Post 11 in the fifth.

Wilson hit a three-RBI home run, which increased its lead to 5-1.

"We didn't play bad," Pate said. "We just had some tough breaks tonight."

Post 11 had runners on base all night, but was unable to manufacture any runs.

Post 13 added a solo home run in the seventh to make it 6-1.

Down to its last out, Wayne County (22-4 overall) attempted one more furious comeback.

Blake Gipson hit a RBI double to make the score 6-2. Luke Frederick hit a ground-rule double to make it 6-3. Will Uzzell made the score 6-5 with a two-RBI single.

"I told the boys repeatedly no one is going to feel sorry us," Pate said. "Nothing is going to be given to us, and I thought we showed a lot of heart coming back like that."

"We came up short, but that's some good baseball. We ended up losing, we had our chances, but it makes me happy that [we] grinded out those at-bats when the game seemed to be over.

Garris closed the door on Wayne County with a game-ending groundout.

Fourth-seeded Wilson (8-8) is in position to eliminate Wayne County from the postseason for the third time since 2015.