Nickerson knocks out Legion team in zone tourney
Post 366 ends season 18-6, runner-up in zone
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The mountain that loomed before the Hillsboro American Legion Post 366 baseball team July 25 was just too tall to scale.
With the aid of stellar pitching and 366-mistakes, Nickerson made it impossible for Hillsboro to get any footing in the Hillsboro Zone Regional final.
And it was deja vu all over again for Post 366.
Coaches Lyman and Kane Adams had to be wondering if they weren't watching the encore of Tuesday's game against Nickerson.
Nickerson's Tyson Bauerle fired a four-hitter while his defense held 366 scoreless in an 8-0 pummeling in an abbreviated five innings.
Considering that Hillsboro had to dig down deep 30 minutes earlier to outlast Pratt, 11-8, it was thrilling to make the final game.
After being shutout by the same Nickerson team on the previous day, Hillsboro was playing with its back to the wall the rest of the way.
Bad position to be in with Hillsboro ace-pitcher Jerod Metcalf all used up.
Metcalf was stuck at second base, forcing Dustin Jost to get the start on the mound.
Jost pitched a scoreless first inning before surrendering an RBI-double to Jarin Berger in the bottom of the second.
Hillsboro stayed in striking distance until the bottom of the third inning, but the offense was again stumped on how to get a hit.
Down just 1-0 in the top of the third, Andy Brubacher's leadoff ground-rule double made it look like Hillsboro could duplicate another comeback like the Pratt game.
But Brubacher was left stranded in scoring position with Bauerle holding 366 hitless the remainder of the inning.
The avalanche came crashing down on 366 as two walks, two beaned batters and a pair of blunders left it buried underneath a 5-0 blanket.
Noah Krol started the landslide, decking a two-run double that pushed Hillsboro down, 3-0.
Things continued to snowball on 366 in the fourth with two more walks and another hit batter.
Michael Howell stretched Nickerson's lead to a comfortable 7-0, blasting a two-run bases-loaded single.
One run away from elimination, Hillsboro was three-up three-down in its final at bat.
Larry McVey sent Nickerson packing for the Aug. 1 American Legion state tournament in the bottom of the fifth, driving in an RBI single off reliever Shawn Hughbanks.
Hillsboro finishes the season at 18-6.
Pratt
The odds seemed insurmountable for Hillsboro to get the desired rematch with Nickerson late in Wednesday's consolation bracket final against Pratt.
The same Pratt team that 366 had dismantled two days earlier, 10-0.
It looked as if it would be Pratt be playing Nickerson after the 86ers took advantage of four-first inning 366- mistakes for a 3-0 lead.
Post 366 climbed back in the game right away, scoring two runs with the help of a Pratt miscue.
Jost crossed the plate on a error charged to second base with a hit from Caleb Marsh.
Marsh made it to third on a Kris Jones-single, then scored on a Metcalf single.
Hillsboro still had no cure for its fielding-disease.
Pratt's lead grew to 6-2 after two with pitcher Steve Chisholm surrendering a trio of walks, an RBI single, a throwing error and a Ryan Pinkall sacrifice fly.
Chisholm ran into a bind again in the third inning, hitting the first two batters and loading up the bases with no outs.
David Briggeman made it an 8-2 game with a two-run single.
Graham Ratzlaff saved what could have been pivotal runs in the game for 366, making a diving catch to end the fourth inning.
The danger that 366 was facing must have finally soaked in by the bottom the fifth.
Brubacher lit the fuse of the eight-run explosion with a leadoff single.
A groundout by Jost began the eruption, pulling 366 to 8-3.
Robert Verbic chopped the lead to 8-6, clearing the bases with a two-out three-run double lined down right field.
Ratzlaff singled for the seventh run and Jost gave 366 the lead for good, belting a two-run single.
The eight-run seven-hit onslaught knocked Pinkall out of the game and Pratt was in severe trouble, now trailing 10-8.
Verbic added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on a wild pitch.
Chisholm and the 366 defense slammed the door on Pratt in the sixth and seventh innings, limiting the 86ers to one hit.
The game once looked to be in control for the 86ers, but in the end it was Pratt that was eighty-sixed.
