Post 95 goes 2-2 at Greenville Tournament

GREENVILLE – Post 95’s hopes of winning the Greenville College Sr. Legion Tournament were quickly dashed when eventual second-place finisher Florissant (Mo.) won the opening game 10-2.

But after winning the next two games with strong efforts from the pitcher’s mound, Vandalia was hoping to salvage a 3-1 finish by beating New Baden for a second time this season.

Post 95, however, had just two hits on offense, and its pitchers struggled to keep New Baden runners off base in an 8-0 loss on Saturday afternoon at Greenville High School.

“We played hard pretty well through (the tournament), but obviously, this last game something got into us,” said acting coach Rod Mueller. “They were hitting it into the gaps, and we weren’t making the plays.”

New Baden’s Alex Oltmann allowed singles to Quinn Wadkins and Johnnie Clift, walked Austin Schwarm and hit Kyle Bray with a pitch for Vandalia’s only runners, while his offense supported him with eight runs on 11 hits and two walks.

Jake Hensler did the most damage, going 3-for-3, and hitting his second home run off of Vandalia pitching this summer.  Kyle Eversgerd had a pair of RBI doubles and Oltmann singled twice.

Post 95 (9-3) committed two errors in the game, and made a pair of miscues in all four games of the tournament, which had an eight-run mercy rule after five innings.

Connor Beasley (1-2) was tagged with the toss, allowing seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out two of the 20 batters he faced.

Clift allowed a leadoff homer to Hensler in the fourth, but also struck out a batter in an inning of relief.

Saturday, June 14
at Greenville High School
New Baden 8
Vandalia 0
V: 0-0-0-0-0—0-2-2
N: 2-0-5-1-X—8-11-0
WP: Oltmann; 5 IP, 4 K
LP: Beasley (1-2); 3 IP, 2 K
Post 95: Clift, 1-for-2; Wadkins, 1-for-2; Schwarm, BB; Bray, HBP.
Record: 9-3

***

GREENVILLE – Clinton Hood wasn’t necessarily overpowering on Saturday against New Baden.

But a steady approach combined with solid defense and plenty of offensive support was all Post 95 needed to get by Bluford at Robert E. Smith Field on the campus of Greenville College.

Hood struck out five but allowed one unearned run despite scattering eight hits. Ryan Miller extended his hitting streak to eight games as one of four Vandalia players with two hits and Post 95 knocked off Bluford, 7-1.

“He kept them turned upside down,” said acting coach Rod Mueller of Hood. “He mixed it up real well with them, and we made the plays when we needed to.”

Hood (2-0) danced in and out of trouble in all but one inning, and by pitching out of several jams, he was able to strand nine runners on base. He ended three innings with a strikeout and induced a double play to end another.

He issued just one walk, and only two other batters were able to work to a count with three balls.

Miller had his fourth multi-hit game in the past five, and he has a hit in all eight games in which he had played.

That gives him a team-leading .480 average, .640 slugging percentage and 1.157 on-base plus slugging percentage. He also had a team-high 16 total bases.

Post 95 (9-2) took the lead on Bluford when Austin Schwarm reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch.

No more runs scored until the fourth when Johnnie Clift and Brett Mueller hit back-to-back doubles and were followed by singles from Miller and Brock Trexler to help account for three runs.

Following two more scoreless innings, Quinn Wadkins doubles, and scored on a single by Kyle Bray. Mueller and Miller then hit back-to-back RBI singles.

An error to lead off the bottom of the seventh and a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat gave Bluford its only run.

Saturday, June 14
at Greenville College
Vandalia 7
Bluford 1
V: 1-0-0-3-0-0-3—7-11-2
B: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1—1-8-2
WP: Hood (2-0); 7 IP, 5 K
LP: Raudenbush; 7 IP, 4 K
Post 95: Mueller, 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Bray, 2-for-4, 2B, RBI; Miller, 2-for-4, RBI; Dalton Crisman, 2-for-3; Wadkins, 1-for-4, 2B, run; Clift, 1-for-3, 2B, 2 runs, SB, BB; Trexler, 1-for-4, RBI, run; Jacob Behrends, RBI; Schwarm, run.
Record: 9-2

***

VANDALIA – The Vandals chased Shelby County’s starting pitcher in the first inning, Matt Tomazzoli pitched five solid innings and Post 95 earned a 9-1 victory in the second game of the tournament.

Shelby County’s starter lasted seven batters, allowing three walks, two doubles and a single after getting the first out of the game, which was the last of three tournament games to be played at Vandalia Mutual Field.

Austin Schwarm brought in the first run by drawing a bases-loaded walk, Ryan Miller followed with the first of his two two-run doubles, Clinton Hood rapped an RBI single and Dalton Crisman brought home a run on a fielder’s choice.

After Shelby County walked the bases loaded in the second inning, Miller tagged a double to right field.

Kyle Bray rifled a game-ending two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hood and Crisman each walked and scored in the inning for Post 95 (8-2).

Tomazzoli allowed at least one runner in every inning, but he did well to pitch out of several jams.

He left the bases loaded in the third, getting a strikeout to end the inning, and he also left runners on second and third in the fifth by getting the final two outs by strikeout.

Tomazzoli (1-0) struck out six, while allowed an unearned run six hits and two walks.

Friday, June 13
at Vandalia Mutual Field
Vandalia 9
Shelby County 1
S: 0-0-0-1-0—1-6-0
V: 5-2-0-0-2—9-7-2
WP: Tomazzoli (1-0); 5 IP, 6 K
LP: Helton; 1/3 IP, 0 K
Post 95: Miller, 2-for-3, 2 2B, 4 RBI, run; Bray, 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Quinn Wadkins, 2-for-4; Hood, 1-for-2, RBI, run, BB; Schwarm, 0-for-0, 3 BB, RBI, run, SB; Clift, 0-for-1, 2 BB, 2 runs; Nate Ketchem, 0-for-2, 2 BB, run; Crisman, RBI, run, BB.
Record: 8-2

***

VANDALIA – Johnnie Clift belted his first home run of the summer, but that was one of the few highlights for Post 95 last Friday in the first game of the Greenville College Sr. Legion Tournament.

Florissant (Mo.) scored five runs in two separate innings, and Vandalia had just one other run outside of Clift’s homer in a 10-2 loss at Vandalia Mutual Field.

Quinn Wadkins drove home Vandalia’s other run on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.

Clift had two hits, while Ryan Miller doubled and score, and Connor Beasley and Brock Trexler singled off of David Britingham, who fired a complete game and struck out five.

Dylen Peters (1-1) took the loss for Vandalia (7-2), allowing five runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out four, and Jacob Behrends allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks in three innings of relief, while striking out three.

Luke Connor had a big game for Florissant, going 3-for-4, with two doubles and six RBI and a run.

Friday, June 13
at Vandalia Mutual Field
Florissant (Mo.) 10
Vandalia 2
F: 0-0-5-0-0-5—10-13-2
V: 0-1-0-0-1-0—2-5-2
WP: Britingham; 6 IP, 5 K
LP: Peters (1-1); 3+ IP, 4 K
Post 95: Clift, 2-for-3, HR, RBI, run; Miller, 1-for-2, 2B, run; Trexler, 1-for-2, BB; Beasley, 1-for-3; Wadkins, RBI; Colin Ledbetter, BB.
Record: 7-2

***

Notes: Colin Ledbetter was struck in the lip while pitching in a batting cage on Saturday and missed both games in Greenville … Vandalia hosts Effingham on Thursday, Robinson on Saturday and Bluford next Monday. All games are doubleheaders.

***

Tournament results
Friday, June 13
•Mattoon 4, Collinsville 3
•Bluford 10, Shelby County 4
•New Baden 4, Bluford 1
•Florissant 10, New Baden 5
•Highland 3, Effingham 2
•Mattoon 9, Piatt County 4
•Highland 8, Piatt County 3
•Florissant 10, Vandalia 2
•Effingham 11, Collinsville 3
•Vandalia 9, Shelby County 1
Saturday, June 14
•Collinsville 9, Highland 4
•Collinsville 6, Piatt County 5
•Vandalia 7, Bluford 1
•Effingham 15, Piatt County 5
•Florissant 8, Shelby County 1
•Mattoon 5, Effingham 3
•Florissant 7, Bluford 1
•New Baden 7, Shelby County 4
•Mattoon 6, Highland 4
•New Baden 8, Vandalia 0
Pool A
•Mattoon, 4-0
•Collinsville, 2-2
•Effingham, 2-2
•Highland, 2-2
•Piatt County, 0-4
Pool B
•Florissant, 4-0
•New Baden, 3-1
•Vandalia, 2-2
•Bluford, 1-3
•Shelby County, 0-4
Championship game
Sunday, June 15
•Mattoon 10, Florissant 4