On Tuesday evening, amid far more pleasant conditions than what both teams had battled one week earlier when temperatures eclipsed the 100-degree plateau, two teams from St. Mary\u2019s Post 255 battled at Chancellor\u2019s Run Regional Park in Frank Riley American Legion baseball action.<\/p>\n
St. Mary\u2019s Post 255 (Bean) broke the game open in the top of the first inning by scoring seven runs while sending 12 batters to the plate against team Bruno starter Avarice Brown. Bean\u2019s team eventually won the first game 13-7.<\/p>\n
Bean leadoff batter Colton Keen grounded out to start the inning but he atoned later in the frame by delivering a three-run double off Brown that sealed the starter\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seems like we have one or two guys who can get hot during a game, but we need like three or four of them to do that,\u201d St. Mary\u2019s (Bean) coach Jason Bean said. \u201cColton came up with a big hit for us in the first. I thought Owen [Zartman] did a good job hitting and running the bases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zartman had two productive plate appearances in the top of the first inning.<\/p>\n
He singled, stole second and third and scored the game\u2019s first run then later in the inning he drew a bases loaded walk to force in a run. He then doubled home a run in the third and doubled and scored in the top of the fifth.<\/p>\n
The Leonardtown rising senior then capped a solid outing by striking out the side in order in a perfect seventh in a non-save situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Owen was watching what was happening over the course of the game and realized their guys were struggling to hit fastballs,\u201d Bean said. \u201cSo, he went out there and just three fastballs and just overpowered them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bean\u2019s team scored four runs in the fifth to open a commanding 12-3 advantage then Bruno\u2019s team responded with three unearned runs against reliever Mike Bittle in the home half of the fifth.<\/p>\n
But Bruno\u2019s team never got any closer and Zartman later slammed the door on a potential rally by fanning all three batters he faced in the seventh.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur pitching has just not been consistent all summer,\u201d said St. Mary\u2019s Post 255 (Bruno) coach Pete Bruno. \u201cTonight I thought we played excellent defense. But we just gave up too many runs early. We\u2019re still one of the youngest teams in the league this year. I think we\u2019re only about two years away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keep your enemies closeDespite their rivalry on the field, players on the opposing teams couldn\u2019t be closer, with a handful from both sides joining forces during the school year to play for Leonardtown High School\u2019s baseball team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s weird, always cracking inside jokes with each other we made up on the team. They know your weaknesses, you know their weaknesses,\u201d Bittle, a rising senior at Leonardtown, said.<\/p>\n
Using their bond to play against each other helps keep energy high, resulting in a dynamic game where both teams can get plenty of reps in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re out here for four plus hours, you\u2019ve got to make it fun,\u201d Bittle said.<\/p>\n
Though the Legion state tournament is just around the corner, rising Leonardtown baseball players already have the 2027 Spring season in mind, preparing to reunite and crush the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going for states, every year we\u2019re going for states,\u201d Bruno team\u2019s utility player Antonio Rodriguez said looking ahead.<\/p>\n
Back on the field<\/p>\n
Amid an extended, dangerous heat wave that gripped nearly three-fourths of the nation at one point last week, the St. Mary\u2019s Post 255 (Bean) team found the conditions genuinely ideal as it handed La Plata Post 82 its first setback of the summer in walk-off fashion. Post 82 would emerge victorious in the second game, 6-2, to earn a split in their twin-bill.<\/p>\n
St. Mary\u2019s Post 255 starting pitcher Riley Whitney had been unable to complete the fourth inning following a line drive that caromed sharply off his lower leg then watched reliever Eli Bean collect the win. In the top of the fourth, Whitney and Bean simply traded positions and that enabled the starting pitcher to remain in the lineup and later that proved to be genuinely fortuitous.<\/p>\n
Whitney departed with a 6-1 lead with two outs in the fourth, but since he did not complete that frame he was not in line for the win and yielded that honor to Bean.<\/p>\n
But with Post 255 owning a comfortable 10-3 advantage heading to the bottom of the sixth, Whitney ended the game two outs early when he belted a three-homer to left center that vaulted Bean\u2019s team to a merciful 14-3 victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday evening, amid far more pleasant conditions than what both teams had battled one week earlier when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,92595,92596,2328,2304,4,2305,2303,92597],"class_list":["post-746691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb-postseason","tag-baseball","tag-frank-riley-american-legion","tag-la-plata-post-82","tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-mlb-postseason","tag-st-mary"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116886621594328265","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}