Post 366 salvages split years ago
Hillsboro Legion baseball team tumbles in home opener, wins finale
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Take away a catastrophic fourth inning of Sunday's championship game of the Augusta Tournament, the Hilllsboro American Legion Post 366 team put up a fight.
The Kansas Cubs' fourth inning was too much for 366 to overcome and they fell, 8-2.
That same 366 team that briefly had the Cubs on the ropes was missing in action in Tuesday night's home opener in Hillsboro against Lyons.
Hillsboro looked like a team suffering from heat stroke, blowing an early 2-0 lead to tumble 8-5 with Lyons breaking the game open with a sixth inning rally.
But 366 eluded what could have been another disastrous inning in the nightcap's seventh to escape with a 7-4 win, giving Jerod Metcalf his fourth win of the season.
The split boosts 366's record to 6-4 on the season under coaches Brady Marsh, Lyman Adams and Jess Tracy.
Caleb Marsh pitched two scoreless innings of the opener before Lyons got on the scoreboard in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly.
With 366 hanging on for dear life to a 2-1 lead, the wheels started coming off for Caleb Marsh in the fourth.
Nabbing Wade Church at third base brought the tying run in for Lyons, marking the final inning for Caleb Marsh.
Post 366 went down in order in both the third and fourth innings before the game came unraveled on reliever Bryan Swensen in the fifth.
A double scored the go-ahead run and a single left 366 doubled over, 4-2 to close out the top half of the fifth inning.
Lyons swiped a pair of unearned runs in the top of the sixth, cashing in on a wild throw to home and a sacrifice fly.
Making the incline a little steeper for 366, Lyons added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh, an RBI single and another sacrifice fly.
Finishing with just five hits against vulnerable pitching, Hillsboro was down to its final three outs and 8-2 by the time its bats seemed to heat up.
Metcalf's going three-for four provided the only bright spot Hillsboro would see.
His one-out RBI single chopped the lead to 8-3 before Steve Chisholm decked 366's only extra base hit of the game, a two-run double deep to center field.
The rally fell four runs shy with Ryan Gaines grounding out to first base, giving Caleb Marsh the loss.
Whatever Brady Marsh told the players between games seemed to work as Hillsboro appeared a different team in the nightcap.
Lyons took a 1-0 lead off Bryan Heckel's run scoring single against Shawn Hughbanks in the top of the first.
Hampered by a hamstring pull, Shawn Hughbanks still escaped a no-out bases loaded situation in the top of the second with minor damage being done.
Caleb Marsh made up for the early game collapse in the nightcap, knotting the game at 2-2 with a two-run single in the bottom of the second.
Metcalf singled in the go-ahead run and the 3-2 lead was Hillsboro's sto keep.
Lyons still hung around though, again tying the game in the top of the third with the aid of a passed ball.
Seeing one at-bat in the opener, Graham Ratzlaff bailed Hillsboro out in the bottom of the third, scoring on a wild pitch.
Caleb Marsh stretched 366's lead to 5-3 with an RBI double to close out the fourth inning.
Still, a 5-3 lead was too flimsy against Lyons.
They cut it to 5-4 with a solo home run in the top of the fifth to knock out Shawn Hughbanks after four and a third of an inning.
Metcalf put the brakes on Lyons' scoring, surrendering two hits the rest of the way.
The bottom of the fifth gave 366 some breathing room again with Chisholm driving in a run off an error and Chad Hughbanks' single.
As comfy as the 7-4 lead looked for 366, there was another chance of it slipping away in the top of the seventh with Metcalf loading the bases with two outs.
Any chance of the lead slipping evaporated with the potential go ahead dropping in the infield.
Metcalf made the throw to Ben Walker to preserve the win and pcik up the victory.
Post 366 returns to action tonight when it hosts Buhler at 6 p.m. at Tabor Field.
Augusta
Hillsboro spent the weekend playing in the Augusta Tournament, competing against teams made up of players from the surrounding area's larger schools.
Post 366 nipped El Dorado 8-7 in Saturday's first game before blanking both Circle and Augusta 12-0 and 11-0, respectively.
Metcalf picked up the win against El Dorado with Shawn Hughbanks shutting out Circle also on Saturday.
Metcalf fired a two-hitter Sunday against Augusta through six innings, leaving Dustin Jost to go against the Cubs in the championship.
The seven members of Post 366 that were part of the 2003 Trojan team aren't likely to forget Stephen Hartman anytime soon.
If they thought they'd seen the last of the Wichita-Trinity lefty two weeks earlier in the first round of the 3A state tournament, they were sadly mistaken.
Much like he had done two weeks earlier, Hartman was there again Sunday to slam the door on Hillsboro, this time playing for the Cubs All-Star team.
