Chesapeake Post 280 comes back to defeat Asheville Post 70.
Chesapeake (Va.) Post 280 coach Larry Bowles was down two of his leaders due to college commitments in his second American Legion World Series game on Saturday at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
And even with an early lead, Bowles made an unconventional strategic move that paid off in a 5-4 victory over Asheville (N.C.) Post 70 that leaves Post 280 as the only remaining unbeaten in the Stripes Division entering Sunday’s final day of pool play.
Leading 1-0 after scoring the first of three unearned runs, Bowles pulled starting pitcher Trey Campos after 23 pitches with the bases loaded and none out.
While Asheville would score three runs in the inning against reliever Ben Kablach, the right-hander would eventually go six innings for the victory.
“It’s bases loaded with no outs against an elite team over there and the way he grinded out the end of the game on the mound was special,” Bowles said of Kablach, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound right hander who will play college baseball at Barton. “I knew he was going to have to step up.
“And he’s been in a slump at the plate but he broke out of it with that huge home run that tied it. I don’t think you can ask for anything more from someone coming into that situation.”
After Kablach’s third-inning home run made it 3-all, Reid Downs reached on a leadoff error and advanced to third on Keegan Haesler’s bunt single in the fifth inning.
After Wes Stubbe’s sacrifice fly gave Chesapeake a 4-3 lead, Haesler came around to score from second on Ryan Gocio’s infield groundout on a bang-bang play at home plate that was disputed by Asheville coach Chris Decker.
“We didn’t get the job done defensively,” said Decker, whose team committed two errors. “When you’re playing at this level against teams that can hit the ball, we’ve got to play better. We had some difficult calls that went against us that didn’t go our way. But that’s how it goes.”
Kablach wriggled out of a jam in the sixth when Asheville stranded two runners while scoring on Reagan Smith’s RBI single for the final 5-4 margin.
Downs (2 hits, double, 1 RBI) led Chesapeake’s offense and Caden Davidson (2 hits) and starter and loser Deegan Randall (5 innings, 6 strikeouts) led Asheville.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Bowles, whose team lost Thomas Conrad and George Chevalier due to VMI class commitments. “Two of our staples and heart and soul of our team were not here today. To do it for those guys and without those guys is something I’ll remember for a long, long time.”
Chesapeake can wrap up the top seed in the Stripes Division with a win over Bossier City (La.) Post 202 in Sunday’s 10 a.m. game that starts the final round of pool play. Asheville closes the four-day slate on Sunday at 7 p.m. against Greece (N.Y.) Post 468.
“We’ve still got tomorrow to play,” Decker said. “And what we do tomorrow will determine if we get to play on Monday.”
- Baseball