Post 180 Enters District Tourney's Winners' Bracket

Vienna Post 180 suppressed Falls Church Post 130's ninth-inning rally to advance to the winners' bracket of the District 17 American Legion Baseball tournament with a 9-6 victory Monday at Waters Field.

Post 130 scored the first run of the game in the second inning, which Post 180 answered in the bottom of the third when Ryan Forrest, who drew a walk and stole second, scored after the shortstop bobbled a ground ball from Mason Hauser. Post 180 pulled ahead in the fourth on another error to score Gavin Gibbons. 

Post 180 then piled on seven more runs over the next three innings, with Justin Padgett, Dennis Cooney, Mason Hauser, Chris Hanson and Ryan Forrest each knocking in a run and Billy McLaughlin driving in two. Six of Post 180's nine runs were scored with two outs.

"I think we were probably a little bit nervous coming out. We had some playoff nerves. We knew we were a higher seed coming in and expected to win, so we probably felt the pressure of living up to that role," said Forrest, who went 3 for 3, including two triples, walked, scored three runs and tallied an RBI. "So the first couple innings were rough, but once we got into it we started playing good baseball again."

Starting on the mound for Post 180, Daniel Bayer (1.01 ERA) struck out four, gave up four hits and allowed one earned run.

In relief, Henry Brandmark (0.94 ERA) gave up five hits, struck out four, and gave up one run on a solo homer in the eighth. Brandmark worked himself into and out of a bases loaded situation in the sixth, ending the inning with two straight strikeouts. 

Post 180 put Justin Padgett on the mound for the ninth inning, which started with a throwing error to first base. Post 130 went on a ninth-inning rally, scoring four runs on one out. After giving up a double that scored two runs, Padgett pitched his way out of the inning with a strikeout and groundout in seven pitches to put the final score at 9-6.

"I think that first error rattled Justin. All of a sudden, he was thinking too much," Werman said. "He also did not have time to warmup, and that's my fault. I need to plan that better."

Post 180 will face Springfield Post 176, who defeated Fairfax Post 177 4-2 on Monday, at 7 p.m. today at Waters Field. Post 180 has defeated Post 176 four times this season. Though Post 180 has outscored them 31-5 this summer, they also endured a one-run nail-biter July 8, as pitcher Mike Simko held Post 180 to four hits in a rain-shortened five-inning game.

Mark Gunst (2.75 ERA), who has not yet faced Post 176, is slated to start for Post 180.

"It's really hard to beat a team five times in a row," Werman said. "[Coach] Al [Vaxmonsky] is really good. He always gets his guys to play this time of year."