Liam Shearer knew it'd be up to him to preserve the Arlington Senior Legion baseball team's lead against Oakland-Craig on Friday night at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
Before coach TJ Stosich jogged to the mound to relieve pitcher Wes Monke, the left-fielder had warmed up in the bullpen prior to the start of the final inning.
“I was just hoping I could get us out of there,” Shearer said.
With the bases loaded, he did just that, inducing the game-ending double play. Post 71 won 6-5 as a result, improving to 5-8 on the season.
“I just tried to throw it as close to the zone as I possibly could and we got a good ground ball,” Shearer said, explaining the final pitch of the victory. Burke Quinn stopped the ball off of the Oakland batter's bat and got it to Luke Sharp, who stepped on the second base bag and threw to first for the final out.
Arlington had fell behind 3-0 through one inning, but came back in its first Senior Legion game in nearly two weeks.
“We were a little rusty after not playing since Valparaiso and got a tough loss there,” Shearer said, noting July 6th's 5-4 loss.
Post 71, however, scored once during the second inning on Tanner Kyllo's bases-loaded walk and tied the game at 3-3 during the fifth when both Shearer and Luke Ott notched RBIs.
“Just keep fighting,” Shearer said of Arlington's mission after its slow start. The Eagles tried to avoid swinging at poor pitches and did what they could to put the ball in play, forcing Oakland to play defense.
“They just couldn't really get it done,” Shearer said.
Tyler Ott plated the go-ahead Post 71 run during the sixth inning. Derek Franzluebbers scored it, sliding in before the ball arrived for a force out in the bases-loaded situation.
From there, Luke Ott hit into another run-scoring error and Quinn drew a bases loaded walk, making it 6-3 in the home team's favor. Coach Stosich's squad gave up two runs during the top of the seventh frame, but Shearer stepped onto the mound and induced the game-ender.
Arlington next plays during the Class B Area 3 Tournament at Vets Field in Blair. Play starts today, but official tournament brackets were unavailable as of press time.
POST 71 SENIOR LINE SCORE
Friday
Arlington 6, Oakland-Craig 5
OAKLAND 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 — 5
ARLO (5-8) 0 1 0 0 2 3 X — 6
