Scott County slides by Cape

CHAFFEE -- Scott County Post 369 managed to squeak by with a 14-13 victory on Friday evening against Cape Post 63 in American Legion baseball action. Post 369 jumped out early with a 6-0 lead after one inning but allowed Cape to jump back into the game with four runs in the top of the second.

Blake Dirnberger quickly swung the momentum back in Scott County's favor in the bottom of the second as he belted a solo home run to right center field.

Cody Carlyle and Chris Asmus followed with consecutive singles and both would score before the third out was recorded. After two, the score was 9-4 with Post 369 on top.

The two teams battled it out for the next two innings, plating a couple of runs apiece, and heading into the sixth inning Post 63 trailed Scott County by five runs, 11-6.

It appeared that Cape had no real shot of getting back into the contest, but Post 369's bullpen stumbled in the sixth and the visiting Post 63 squad was able to score seven runs to pull back within one 14-13. In the top of the sixth, Cape pounded out six hits, including Ryan Grigaitis' and Brady James' two-RBI singles.

As the pressure to hold on for victory mounted, Scott County put two men on base in the bottom of the sixth but a fly-out to left field ended the threat.

Cape put their first batter in the top of the seventh on base as Adam Smithey singled to right field, but Smithey was quickly erased in a double-play that ended on a close call at first base. Shae Simmons fielded the hard-hit ground ball and quickly flipped to Josh Henson at second base who turned the double-play fast enough to get Steven Houseman at first base.

Post 63 put two more runners on board after two walks but Scott County's Adam Urhahn picked up the save as he got James to fly out to Asmus in left field.

"We hit the ball well obviously," said Scott County head coach Denver Stuckey following the victory. "But, if we're going to contend for the district championship we're going to have to play better defense. We're going to have to try to hold guys under 13 runs, but we haven't played in a about a week."

As for his reliever, Stuckey said that he thought Urhahn performed well in the save opportunity.

"I thought he threw really well," said Stuckey. "He pitched some for us last year so I knew what to expect."

Levi Felter started on the hill for Post 369 and lasted four full innings. On the day, Felter allowed two earned runs on four hits, two walks and two hit batters. He also struck out three while on the hill.

At the plate, Scott County was led by Aaron Tomaszewski and Carlyle. Tomaszewski was 3-for-5 with three singles, two runs scored and an RBI and Carlyle was 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, three runs scored and two RBIs. Josh DeBrock and Asmus both chipped in with two hits, an RBI and a run apiece.

On Post 63's end, several Cape players ended the game with multiple hits in the losing effort. Tyler Glidewell picked up two singles, Smithey had three singles, Ryan Grigaitis had a single and a walk and Blake Smith wrapped up the offense with two singles.

Cape head coach Dave Meyr thought his team fought hard until the very end, but just came up shy of the victory.

"You have to really give it to the kids," said Meyr of his squad's comeback. "They battled back and they never got down on themselves and they kept hitting the ball. We made some good plays and we made some really bad plays. We didn't hit our cut-off guy tonight and our first pitcher had a little bit of trouble finding the plate. I probably left him in there a little too long."

Justin Myers was the Post 63 starting pitcher on Friday evening. Myers lasted just three innings, giving up eight earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out three.

Cape Post 63 is now 1-4 in league play while Scott County Post 369 is 3-2.