Senior Legion ends season with ‘ugly’ loss to Olney

Following Monday night’s loss in the opening round of the district tournament, Post 95 would have to win five straight games in order to be district champions. Vandalia only won eight games all season.

Post 95 could not even manage to win the first game in what would be a near-impossible comeback through the loser’s bracket. Vandalia lost Tuesday night to Olney, 26-6, in Effingham.

“Not a pretty loss by a long shot, but a loss and a big one,” coach Steve Hosick said. “You hate to end your season on a deal like this, but everything they (Olney) hit went through.”

If winning five straight games would have been a stretch, coming back from a 9-0 deficit after the first inning would take every bit of luck and talent that Vandalia possessed.

Starting pitcher Kory McCluskey was rocked for a second straight outing. A week ago, against Toledo he gave up nine runs during his four innings on the mound. Tuesday night, he didn’t even get out of the first inning. McCluskey lasted just two-thirds of the first inning, giving up six hits and nine runs.

His brief stint on the mound was followed by Cody Wimberly. Wimberly lasted two innings, giving up eight runs.

After Wimberly gave up five in the second inning to put Post 95 down 14-0, Vandalia was able to get on the board with two runs, in the second.

Troy Kimbro’s one-out double was followed by a single by Brenden Wasmuth. Ryan Thiele’s double scored Kimbro, and a ground out by Jon Spicer brought in Wasmuth.

Wimberly gave up the final three of his eight runs in the top of the third. With two outs, Andy Hosick replaced Wimberly on the mound and was able to get out of the third without giving up anymore runs.

“You start making pitching moves to keep it close, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Steve Hosick said. “It didn’t seem to matter who pitched tonight; Olney was going to hit the ball.”

Hosick kept Olney in check through the fourth, but Vandalia could not make up any ground, still trailing 17-2.

Olney was able to hit Hosick in the fifth and plated two more runs to go up 19-2. Vandalia’s defense turned a double play to get out of the inning and stop the bleeding.

Post 95’s offense got into gear in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. With Dallas Gray on second, Wimberly doubled, scoring Gray and putting himself in scoring position. Zack Thompson followed with an RBI double, and Kimbro hit another RBI double, cutting the score to 19-5.

Hosick would give up four more runs in the sixth before being pulled after getting just one out.

Mitch Lewis was the fourth pitcher for Post 95, and he gave up two hits in the sixth in allowing a runner that Hosick had put on base to score. The run put Olney up 24-5.

Hosick was able to leg out a two-out triple in the bottom of the sixth, but was left stranded.

Lewis fared better than the three pitchers before him. He gave up just two runs in the seventh, both of which came on a home run to left.

Lewis did pretty well with the bat also; he led off the seventh with a double. He scored two batters later as Kimbro hit his third double of the game and picked up his second RBI of the night. The run put Vandalia down 26-6. Wasmuth struck out to end the game.

“I did not think we would come over here and lose our first two ball games,” Hosick said.

Despite the 20-run loss, Post 95 seemed to be in high spirits as they shook their teammates hands for the final time this summer.

Kimbro was 3-for-4 with three doubles, two RBIs and a run scored.

Post 95’s big loss comes just several weeks after they swept Olney in a doubleheader on the road. Hosick said the difference Tuesday night was the fact that so many balls got through the infield. There weren’t many errors, just the fact that almost everything hit on the ground found a gap in the defense.

Vandalia ends its season 8-22.

“At the start of the year, I thought we had the abilities to be a pretty good ball team,” Hosick said. “The problems were the inconsistencies. It seemed like when we had pitching, we didn’t have hitting, and when we had hitting, we didn’t have pitching.”

Hosick said from his point of view, it didn’t look as if everyone came together to play ball like they could or had the potential to do. He didn’t feel as if the team had a leader this season that could step in and rally the team.

“It’s hard to take a six-week deal and turn it into a real good season,” Hosick said.

For Hosick, it’s never too soon to look ahead to next season. With all but three players returning (Gray, Wasmuth, and Lewis), Hosick is optimistic about where this team can go and improve.

“I’m looking forward to next year’s team,” he said. “I think we can build on this. Coming in here (the district tournament) as a No. 2 seed is good deal for us. We just didn’t play real well when we got here.”

T-Town 7 – Vandalia 1

Monday night in Effingham, Post 95 struck out 14 times en-route to a 7-1 loss to T-Town in the opening round of the district tournament.

Vandalia’s offense had just three hits and seven base runners all night.

Luke Murfin had cruised through the first five innings, giving up just two runs on one hit. In the top of the sixth, Vandalia’s pitching began to struggle. Murfin gave up two runs with one out before being replaced by Dallas Gray.

Gray didn’t fare much better. He gave up three more runs in the inning before getting the third out. Post 95 entered the sixth down 2-0 and ended the sixth down 7-0.

Brenden Wasmuth led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and would score later in the inning on a ground out by Cody Wimberly.

Vandalia was able to get runners on base in the eighth and ninth inning, but could not score.

Gray was able to settle down after the sixth and finish with four strikeouts. Murfin took the loss. He struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings. He struggled with control, as he walked eight. He worked out of situations with runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings.