Enduring a heat wave just two days before the Fourth of July fireworks exploded across the country, Powhatan Middle School was the host to its own form of fireworks on Thursday night when the American Legion Post 201 baseball team hosted West End Post 125 for their second matchup of the summer season.
West End won the first game 7-6 on June 30, but Post 201 recovered with its own nail-biting victory, winning 5-4 thanks to a game-deciding at-bat from Jake Schumacher, who was hit by a pitch to send in the winning run from Garrett Spears.
Post 201 got a three-inning start from Cam Rybak and a four-inning relief appearance from Clayton Washington, with the two combining for nine strikeouts and eight hits allowed. On the Fourth of July, Rybak announced his commitment to play at Bluefield State in West Virginia, joining Max Altieri as another Powhatan Indian and Post 201 player to take their talents to Bluefield.
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Post 201 took the lead with three runs in the second inning, starting with an RBI single from Washington to drive in Schumacher. Spears later sent Altieri and Andrew Asencio home with a hard ground ball single to right field, opening up the lead to three runs ahead of Post 125.
Bryson Freeman, a Mechanicsville High School graduate, helped Post 125 respond, advancing to second on a fly ball shot to left field while fellow Mechanicsville Mustang grad Dylan Bennett scored to cut the deficit to 3-1 in the top of the third.
Freeman later scored in the top of the fifth to make it 3-2, though Post 201 got off the field soon after with a Washington strikeout on Louisburg commit Tyson Penepacker, who played for the Dominion Sports Collective this past season.
Post 201 broke a three-run scoreless drought in the bottom of the sixth, pushing their lead to 4-2 when Washington hit a right field grounder to send Andrew Brownie home, but Post 125 tied the game up with one out in the seventh after Colin Whidbee hit a 2-run RBI single to get Bennett and Freeman back on home plate. Freeman finished with three runs on the day.
With the game tied and now needing two outs, Washington and the defense were able to limit the damage done on that 2-run play, quickly getting off the field with consecutive fly outs caught by Spears and Altieiri.
Right out of the gate, a Spears double set the tone in the seventh. He needed just two pitches to find what he liked, first taking a 1-0 count before connecting on a swing that sent the baseball to left field. After a ground out and an intentional walk to put two runners on, pitcher Nathan Smith hit Brownie with a pitch to load the bases with one out, setting up another hit batter in Schumacher to end the game with Post 201 on top.
Post 201 will be home and away for games this week, starting on the road against Dinwiddie Post 149 on Tuesday, July 7 and returning to Powhatan Middle School on July 9 for a rematch with West End Post 125.
