An 8-1 win Monday afternoon put the Gaston Braves in the driver’s seat of the winners’ bracket in the North Carolina American Legion Tournament, where the Braves need one more victory on the final day of the tournament to advance to the Southeast Regional.
After dropping the opener to Gaston on Friday, Wilmington Post 10 ran off three straight wins, including a win over Wayne County before running out of gas against Shelby in the nightcap to close Monday’s action and another successful summer for Post 10. Against Shelby, and after 36 innings of baseball in the last 72 hours, Wilmington nearly had one last comeback, but the rally fell short in a 4-2 season-ending setback.
“You can’t say enough about what our guys were able to do this week,” said Post 10 Coach Tommy Bowker. “There’s no question that we put ourselves in a hole after day one, but we fought every inning and really got the bats going over the last three games heading into Shelby.
“There was plenty of off the field issues that didn’t have anything to do with us and could have been a distraction, but I thought our guys did a great job in responding.”
Trey Croom and Corey Everett picked up a pair of RBI hits in the bottom of the second, while William Noxon added a run-scoring single in the third, followed by Everett’s second RBI of the game in the fourth to help lift Wilmington past Wayne County 5-3 in the mid-afternoon matchup.
With the pitching staff running thin, Donovan Francis, Josh Rogers, Brandon Boone and Tyree Johnson combined to finish the nine-inning contest.
“Anytime you get this deep into the playoffs and having to fight through the losers’ bracket, it’s also going to be a strain on your pitchers,” said Bowker. “But, again, our guys gave it everything they had and that’s all we can ask.”
Wilmington took a 4-1 lead into the eighth when Wayne County battled back to make it a one-run game, but with two on and one out, Johnson induced a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the jam.
Croom added a much needed insurance run in the bottom of the frame and Johnson recorded the final three outs in the top of the ninth.
The win moved Post 10 into the night game against Shelby but the rally fell short in a 4-2 season ending setback.
“We had a few chances in the game, but just couldn’t get that one or two hits that would have changed momentum and likely the result,” said Bowker. “Our pitchers worked hard and you can’t say enough about how we came together to make a run this deep.”
Post 10 had trouble breaking through against the Post 82 pitching staff, but after going hitless over the first four innings of play, Shane Shepard smacked a two-run double to get within two. Back-to-back double plays in sixth and seventh ultimately helped Shelby move onto the state finals.
Post 82 needs to beat Gaston twice on Tuesday to move into the Southeast Regional Tournament.
American Legion scoreboard and schedule
Gaston 8 Shelby 1
Shelby 000 000 001 -1
Gaston 210 002 03X -8
Wilmington 5 Wayne County 3
Wayne 000 011 010-3
Wilmington 021 100 01X-5
Shelby 4 Wilmington 2
Wilmington 000 020 00-2
Shelby 310 000 00X-4
Tuesday, July 29
12:30 p.m. Gaston vs. Shelby
3:30 p.m. Gaston vs. Shelby *if necessary
