CHESTERFIELD — Wednesday night the Post 284 Bucs traveled to Chester to take on the South Richmond Post 137 team at L.C. Bird High School. The 137 team, consistently one of the top teams in the region, making a Legion World Championship run in 2008, came into the battle carrying an 11-2 record.
Despite a stroke of bad luck Post 284 battled, but the South Richmond club was too much on this night, winning the game 9-8. Manchester High School sophomore Ben Florence laced a ball through a right-side hole on the third pitch he saw to drive home Joey Cujas for the walk-off winner.
“I knew I could do it,” Florence said. “I just relaxed and did my job.”
Although it was 137 that had the last laugh, 284 was the first to break on the scoreboard in the second inning. Forrest Lodge got it started with a double. The Bucs were then assisted when 137 starter Michael Carpenter began to lose some control. Tyler Reed followed Lodge with a walk and after a sacrifice bunt moved them over, two more walks brought home the games first run. But the Bucs were not finished. Prince George’s Andy Runion drove in a run with the first of his four hits. Ryan Montgomery then followed with a sacrifice fly to give 284 the 3-0 lead.
The back-and-forth nature of the game became apparent in the bottom half of that inning though, as a wild play would prove to get 137 on the board. Post 284 starter Brian Bierlein started the inning by giving up a walk and a double. Designated hitter Alex Mait then slapped a ball up the middle which deflected off the glove of Bierlein to the second baseman Daniel Falls. Post 137’s first run was to come on the ground out, but the second would soon follow as Fall threw the ball past Lodge and the score promptly become 3-2.
In the fourth inning, 284 would get their offense back into gear as Nathan Chamberlain knocked a two-out single, plating Runion and Falls. The Bucs’ 5-2 lead would hold until the sixth, when the already-wild night took an unexpected turn. Bierlein had settled into five and one-third innings of two-run ball when he faced Augie Ayers.
“He was solid the whole way and we hadn’t done nothing with him,” said Post 137 coach Byron Ballard. “He competed well.”
Ayers rocketed a ball back up the middle which hit Bierlein in the lower leg. The injury took the limping pitcher out of the game, and raised question marks in the previously comfortable situation. The out was recorded, but the Bucs were left without a man on the mound, and turned to Prince George’s Justin Sebera to make the best of a bad situation. However, coming in cold did not suit Sebera well. He was blasted, allowing four consecutive hits and five runs, including a two-run homer by Chris Ayers to cap the scoring.
The disastrous sixth came to an end when Sebera forced Cujas to pop out, but the Bucs now trailed 7-5.
“Getting him out was good for us because we somehow couldn’t hit him,” Chris Ayers said. “We got someone else on the mound and figured him out.”
The resilient Bucs weren’t ready to give in though. The up-and down nature of the game continued as 284 poured on three runs in the eighth to take the lead back. It started when Lodge walked. Tyler Reed then came to plate and singled on a hard liner to right. The 137 right fielder Florence bobbled the baseball, allowing both runner to move up a base. After two ground outs and the nine hitter stepping into the box, it appeared the Bucs might go away empty handed. But that nine hitter, Falls, came through, hooking the ball into the left field corner. Falls was rewarded as the next hitter, Runion, laced a double to give 284 the 8-7.
It was on to the bottom half of the ninth as the Bucs turned to Cole Tapp to finish three fantastic innings of relief work. The task would not be easy, as the haunting middle of the 137 batting order was due up. First was Chris Ayers, who took the second pitch he saw and crushed it, easily clearing the wall in left to tie the game. It was followed by an eerily similar shot by Cujas that just caught the top of the fence for a double. The next two hitters were walked, clearing Florence to be the hero.
