The Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Seniors Auxiliary team tied for third place in the Diamond Sports Productions 17U Wood Bat World Series, which was held Friday through Sunday in the St. Louis area.
Jefferson City won three of its four pool-play games, starting with a pair of wins Friday at McKendree University in Lebanon, Ill. The Post 5 Seniors Auxiliary topped the Midwest Rebels 1-0 and then beat the Quincy Athletics 11-1.
Jefferson City scored its run in the top of the third inning against the Rebels. Easton DeMilia was hit by a pitch to start the inning, advanced to second base when Graham Boeckmann drew a walk and scored on a two-out single by Gavin Williams.
Colten Bryan had Post 5’s other hit, a leadoff single in the fourth inning.
Thorn Phillips was the winning pitcher. In six scoreless innings, he allowed two hits and two walks, striking out eight.
Cole Scheulen earned the save with a scoreless seventh, giving up one hit and striking out the last batter of the game, stranding the tying run on second base.
In Friday’s second game, Post 5 had 13 hits against the Athletics. Jefferson City broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third inning, added two runs in the fourth and plated five runs in the fifth to win by run rule.
Williams hit a two-run double in the fourth and Myles Gresham added a two-run single in the fifth for Post 5. Williams and Gresham each finished with two hits and two RBI.
Justin Atnip had a team-high three hits, finishing with two singles and a double, while Hayden Schlup and Boeckmann each drove in two runs.
Williams was the winning pitcher, giving up one hit while striking out six batters in four scoreless innings. Carter Otto pitched the fifth, allowing one run on one hit with three walks and two strikeouts.
Jefferson City split Saturday’s games at Arthur Fletcher Field in Collinsville, Ill. Post 5 lost 6-3 to the Gateway Bruins and won 6-5 against the Southeast Tropics.
The Bruins never trailed, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. Jefferson City answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI double from Bryan and an RBI single from Atnip.
Gateway then scored a run in each of the final three innings. Jefferson City scored its final run on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.
Phillips had a team-high three hits, all singles, and Bryan added a single for a multihit game.
Scheulen pitched 6⅔ innings in the loss, giving up six runs (three earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Schlup struck out the only batter he faced to end the seventh.
Down to the team’s final out, Post 5 won on a walk-off against the Tropics, getting a two-run double by Atnip to score the tying and winning runs.
Phillips hit a two-run single in the third to put Jefferson City ahead 2-1. In the next inning, Gresham and Williams hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it a three-run lead.
The Tropics scored four runs in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 advantage.
Gresham pitched the first six innings, earning a no-decision. He gave up one run on eight hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Scheulen picked up the win, recording the final two outs in the seventh. He finished with one walk and one strikeout.
Phillips had three singles and two RBI, Atnip had a single, a double and two RBI and Williams added a pair of singles.
The Post 5 Seniors Auxiliary ends its season with a 12-9 record, tying Gateway for third place at the end of pool play.
GBA 17U and the Missouri Bulls each went 3-0-1 in pool play in the eight-team tournament. GBA won Sunday’s title game 7-2 after tying the Bulls at 3 in Saturday’s pool-play game.