Monday was the final day of Blair Post 154's American Legion baseball season.
On the second-to-last night of the Class B Area 3 Tournament at Vets Field, the Seniors were eliminated by ETC Black Post 211, 10-6. The hometown ballplayers met on the infield after the game, breaking the huddle and sharing sweaty hugs on a night still warm after 10 p.m.
“My summer is busy,” Coach James Bilslend said from the edge of his diamond. “But I absolutely loved it.”
Post 154 closes the season 19-17 after a 2-2 tournament run. Blair lost its opener July 25 to Arlington and lost its finale Monday to the ETC Knights. Bilslend felt the last game came down to one bad inning.
“You take out that five-run second inning and here we are in another one-run game, which is, as a coach, what I want,” he said. “I want to have a chance.”
While Aiden McBreen plated Blair's first run, Carter Saylor and his Post 154 teammates did what they could to try and get back into the ballgame from there. The outfielder beat a throw to first base during the third inning, pulling his team within 5-2 on the play.
“If you do it right, base runners usually lead to runs,” Bilslend said. “And Carter was setting the table every time he came up to the plate.”
Saylor slid across home plate during the fifth inning, too, when an Owen Mann contact swing plated two Blair runs. The effort pulled Post 154 within three scores again, 7-4, but ETC just responded with two more runs of its own during the bottom half.
Down 9-4 in the sixth frame, Colton Nixon cut the new deficit to four runs, plating Nelson Kosch. But, again, Post 211 responded with a solo homer during the next half inning.
“It seems like we could just never find a rhythm,” Bilslend said. “Never find a way to, maybe, change our approach — get into the situational part of hitting.”
Blair never stopped trying to scratch and claw back into the game, though, scoring another run during the top of the seventh inning.
“The boys, they didn't give up,” Bilslend added.
Saylor scored again when Hudson Hamm reached first base. A flyout later, however, Post 154's season was over.
“I thought it was a great tournament run considering where we started,” Bilslend said.
Arlington upset Blair in a one-run game to start Area 3 play before the coach's team made it through the weekend with back-to-back one-run victories Saturday and Sunday.
“We figured out how to dig down deep,” Bilslend said.
It's a lesson he hopes Post 154's players will take with them going into their next baseball season.
Blair beats Concordia
Brevin Leggott relieved Mann the night before — Sunday — as Blair survived and advanced against Omaha Concordia at Vets Field, 6-5.
Mann threw 6 2/3 innings, totaling seven strikeouts, for the pitching win. Leggott, however, struck out the last Mustang to step in the batter's box to clinch the victory.
Post 154 had trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but scored five runs to take control of the game and extend its season. Leggott, Kosch, Andrew Smutny, Saylor, Nathan Murray and McBreen all scored runs, while Kosch notched a team-best two RBIs.
Leggott, Lucas Matejka and Murray had an RBI apiece as well during Blair's second-to-last game of the summer season.
AREA 3 TOURNAMENT LINE SCORES
Monday
ETC Black 10, Blair 6
BLAIR (19-17) 0 1 1 0 2 1 1 — 6
ETC BLACK 0 5 0 2 2 1 X — 10
Sunday
Blair 6, Omaha Concordia 5
OC 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 — 5 4 1
BLAIR (19-16) 1 0 0 0 0 5 X — 6 6 1
