Tuesday, August 7, 2007 11:02 PM CDT
Danville shows comeback ability
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
MATTOON – This time Danville Post 210 might have the comeback kids.
Four years ago Danville was the victim when Mattoon Post 88 rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 4-3 win in an elimination game of the American Legion Fourth Division baseball tournament.
Mattoon went on to not only win the division but also the state and reach the championship game of the Great Lakes Regional before falling just short of a Legion World Series berth.
“I always think if we could have won that game it could have been us doing that,” said Adam Decker, Danville’s coach then and now.
That 2003 season was one of just two times in Decker’s seven years coaching the Danville legion team that it has not been in the state tourney.
Ten years ago when the state tourney was also at Mattoon, the Jason Anderson-led Danville team was the runner-up to Rock Island.
That was about as good as it has gotten.
“Danville has never had to my knowledge a state champion,” said Decker, a Danville High School graduate who pitched for Post 210 in 1994.
But with comebacks galore to win the Fourth Division, this Danville team facing Mattoon in today’s 7 p.m. first-round state game at Grimes Field is looking for that first title even without perhaps the most highly billed edition of the tradition-rich program.
“It’s a little bit of a surprise,” Decker said of his latest state berth. “I lost all but four players from last year so I was not expecting to be back at state this year.
“They just came around. They bought into my philosophy and matured a lot quicker than I expected. This is probably the toughest team I’ve had. We got down so many times in that division tournament. Against Litchfield we were down 10-5 after we were up 5-0. I think a lot of teams would have folded but our guys did not.”
Few leads are safe against a Danville team led by Danville Area Community College sophomore-to-be David Worthington, who is batting .434, set a program record with 12 home runs and also has 20 doubles, five triples and 53 RBIs.
“He’s just a phenomenal hitter,” Decker said. “He’s hitting over .400. I don’t know if there’s a way to get him out. He gets himself out sometimes. He swings so hard and misses. This is his third year and he doesn’t know what it’s like to not go to state. He’s our leader and hustles in and out on the field.”
Pitcher Justin Cox, 8-2, and Avion Forthenberry also have played a year at Danville Area Community College, others are going to be freshman at the school while Covington, Ind., products Taylor Dennison and Ryan Scrogham are headed to Marian College.
Worthington is a Danville graduate while Post 210 also draws from Danville Schlarman, Westville, Bismarck-Henning, Salt Fork and Covington, Ind., High Schools.
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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