Monday, July 2, 2007 1:48 AM CDT
Hood's one-hitter caps Post 88 sweep
BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — So who was the jinx?
After Mattoon Post 88’s seven-run fourth inning had the 10-run mercy rule possibility in effect, who said something about how Shane Hood was three outs from a no-hitter?
“I didn’t even know he had it,” Post 88 coach Steve Metzger said. “I was over at third base (in the coach’s box) so I didn’t hear our guys in the dugout.”
So did anyone speak the traditionally unspeakable about a no-hitter in the making?
Or was the pitcher with that possibility worried about it?
“Not really,” Hood said. “I was just trying to get it over with.”
So when Toledo Post 764’s Levi Sudkamp led off the fifth inning with a line single to right field spoiling the no-hitter, Hood was hardly fazed.
The Mattoon pitcher retired the next three batters, including his eighth and ninth strikeouts to go with one walk in this five-inning one-hitter shutout as Post 88’s 11-0 win completed Saturday’s American Legion baseball sweep over Toledo at Grimes Field.
Patrick Snowden and Adam Harrington combined for a four-hitter in the first game while Blake Fairchild, Matt Miller and Colt Davis had three hits each in a 10-1 win.
So now a week after being mired in a 13-game losing streak, Post 88 can take a five-game winning streak into its Firecracker Classic, which is to begin today with games at Grimes and Lake Land College with the host Mattoon team’s first game scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Maybe this once -struggling Post 88 team is getting well with the help of scheduling a first-year Legion team like Toledo Post 764.
But sometimes you take whatever confidence boost you can get.
“This is my first year playing (senior Legion) so I don’t know much about any team,” Snowden said. “I just do what I do — throw strikes.”
Snowden did that allowing three hits and just an unearned run in his five innings before being replaced according to Metzger’s plans of not overusing any of his pitchers heading into this week’s tournament.
Adam Harrington, who like Snowden is going to be a senior at Mattoon High School, overcame five walks for two scoreless innings to close the deal.
Casey-Westfield graduate and Olivet Nazarene University bound Brennan Ragon kept Toledo close for a while in a game that was 2-1 after 4 ½ innings before Post 88 managed a run in the fifth and broke loose for seven runs sending 12 batters to the plate in the sixth.
“For a bunch of young kids you can tell we’re working, working, working and then fall asleep,” said Jim Miller, a former Post 88 assistant coach who became Cumberland High School’s head coach two years ago and now has helped organize the new Legion team comprised mainly of his spring team’s players.
During the summer, Miller is serving as Post 764’s assistant under head Josh Maxwell in this building project for a team that fell to 2-9 before Sunday’s doubleheader at Rantoul.
“What hurt us today was both of our catchers dropped a dime on us and weren’t here,” Maxwell said. “One was at a basketball camp and the other just didn’t show. Michael Nelson had never put on catcher’s gear before (Saturday) but he said ‘coach, I’ll try it.’
“We were missing seven guys. It’s tough to do that. I’m proud of the guys who were here.”
Eastern Illinois’ basketball team camp took from Post 764 four Charleston High School products who joined the program with the understanding they could have some time off for other sports during the summer.
Post 88 has now hit the part of its schedule where its attendance rules become more stringent.
Still just 12-20, Post 88 now has some wins for momentum and confidence heading into its annual tournament and one of the focal points to the regular season.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Metzger said. “I noticed the boys are more at ease. We’re starting to hit the way we are capable.”
The hitting came from the start of game two as Josh Wilson and Lyle Seaman, Post 88’s first two batter’s in the lineup, singled stole second and scored in a two-run first inning. Each went 2-for-3 for the game while Cory Bence was also 2-for-3 from his No. 9 spot in the batting order.
Harrington’s double started a two-run seventh inning and then Post 88 put things away with the seven-run fourth.
That was more than enough offensive support for Hood, who faced just one more than the minimum batters in the five-inning game.
Toledo’s Kenny Flood led off the third inning with a walk but was thrown out trying to steal second by Post 88 catcher Trevor Buford. Sudkamp singled in the fifth inning and was stranded at second.
“Pretty decent,” was how Hood summed up his pitching. “I was hitting my spots and let my defense take care of it”
First game
Toledo AB R H BI
Biggs, 3b 4 0 1 0
Ashworth, ss 4 0 1 0
Ragon, p 2 1 1 0
Sudkamp, c 3 0 1 0
Butler, 1b 4 0 0 0
M. Nelson, lf 2 0 0 0
Rodebaugh, rf 4 0 0 0
Flood, 2b 1 0 0 0
D. Nelson, lf 3 0 0 0
Totals 27 1 4 0
Post 88 AB R H BI
Wilson, 3b 3 1 0 0
Hood, 1b 2 0 0 0
Buford, rf 1 0 1 2
Bence, pr 0 1 0 0
Seaman, c 4 2 2 1
Willison, 3b 4 0 1 0
Fairchild, dh 3 2 3 2
Bradley, 1b 4 1 0 0
Miller, ss 4 1 3 1
Burson, rf 3 1 2 2
Davis, lf 4 1 3 0
Totals 32 10 15 8
2B-Fairchild, Burson. SB-Hood, Bence, Davis.
Toledo 000 010 0 - 1-4-2
Post 88 020 017 x - 10-15-3
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Toledo
Ragon 5 1/3 12 8 8 4 2
D. Nelson 2/3 3 2 1 0 0
Post 88
Snowden 5 3 1 0 2 4
Harrington 2 1 0 0 5 3
Second game
Toledo AB R H BI
Biggs, cf 2 0 0 0
Ashworth, ss 2 0 0 0
Ragon, 1b 2 0 0 0
Sudkamp, 3b 2 0 1 0
Butler, p 2 0 0 0
M. Nelson, c 2 0 0 0
Flood, 2b 1 0 0 0
McClain, lf 1 0 0 0
Rodebaugh, rf 1 0 0 0
Totals 15 0 1 0
Post 88 AB R H BI
Wilson, cf 3 2 2 1
Bradley, cf 0 0 0 0
Seaman, 3b 3 1 2 1
Willison, 3b 0 0 0 0
Buford, c 3 1 1 2
Fairchild, 1b 2 1 1 1
Snowden, dh 3 1 1 0
Miller, ss 3 1 0 1
Mann, rf 3 0 1 0
Harrington, lf 2 2 1 1
Bence, 2b 3 2 2 1
Totals 25 11 11 8
2B-Buford, Mann, Harrington. SB-Seaman, Harrington.
Toledo 000 00 – 0-1-2
Post 88 220 7x – 11-11-0
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Toledo
Butler 4 11 11 8 1 0
Post 88
Hood 5 1 0 0 1 9
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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