Post 180 Splits Double-Header With Post 177

After shutting out Fairfax Post 177 in the first game of a double-header, Vienna Post 180 lost the second game Thursday to put their district record at 14-4 heading into the final six games of the American Legion season.

Eli Facenda, a Madison High graduate, pitched a complete game shutout for Post 180 to start the night. He struck out nine and gave up five hits, all singles, in the 6-0 victory. He lowered his ERA to 6.11 and earned his second win of the season.

"He pitched awesome," said Frank Werman, head coach for Post 180. "He's a soft leftie, he changes speeds, mixes it up. He's pretty effective from the left side. He just pitched really well."

Also at the top of his game offensively, Facenda found a way on base each time he stepped into the batter's box throughout the double-header. After both games, he had a total of four hits and two RBI — two hits and one RBI in the first game — three walks, and two runs. He leads the team with a batting average of .487 and an on-base percentage of .618.

Facenda also got support from teammates Joe Corrigan, Walker Webster and Justin Padgett, who each notched an RBI, and Chris Hanson, who notched two.

Post 177 scattered its five hits throughout the seven innings, never putting together two consecutive hits. Twice they had runners in scoring position — in the first after a single from Bobby Bray and a walk from Herminio Azor, and in the second after a sacrifice bunt from Nicholas Priftis to move Michael Kann to second — but never capitalized.

Post 177's Bray also pitched a complete game. He gave up 11 hits and struck out five batters.

Game Two

Post 177 recovered from the first game to win the second 5-3, taking advantage of defensive mistakes from Post 180.

Post 180 committed six errors, two of which eventually led to two runs.

On the mound for Post 177, Evan Bray struck out five and gave up 10 hits in his complete game performance.

Mason Hauser, the knuckleball pitcher from Oakton High School, would get the loss for Post 180 despite giving up just two hits in five innings and striking out four batters. Gavin Gibbons and Walker Webster, who relieved Hauser, gave up one hit each. All four hits were singles.

Hauser also walked three, and all three made it around the base path to score — all on errors.

"Batters have to think a lot more [with Hauser's knuckleball]. They tend to be on their front foot, so they're either popping it up or hitting little grounders. The only problem with that is when you hit these little soft grounders, it makes our defense have to think and it's easy to make mistakes," Werman said.

Matthew Spaulding notched Post 177's sole RBI.

Offensively, Post 180 did not capitalize on the 18 runners they put on base through 10 hits, six walks and two hit-by-pitches. The three runs they did score were brought in by a single from Facenda in the fifth inning, a double from Max Rappoport and a passed ball in the sixth.

But Post 177 had also cleaned up its defense since the first game, committing no errors in the second game and even pulling out a triple play in the fourth inning. After walking the first two batters of the inning, Bray caught a hard liner just before it hit the ground. Not realizing the ball had been caught, the runners did not go back to first and second base, allowing time for Post 177 to tag both bases.

"The second game, we made too many little mistakes," Werman said. "You can't win every game, and there were lots of freaky things that happened that you really can't do anything about. But then, of course, we had bases loaded in the seventh and we didn't do anything about that either."

Third-place Post 177 (10-8) next face fourth-place Centreville Post 1995 (9-11) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Oakton High School.

Post 180 stands at second place in the American Legion's 17th District with a 14-4 record. Their next game is a double-header against eighth-place Alexandria Post 24 (7-13) beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday at Waters Field in Vienna.

Statistics from the games:

Game 1

Post 177

Hits: Bobby Bray (single), Michael Kann (single), Evan Bray (single), Herminio Azor (single), Kyle Hatterick (single)

Post 180

Hits: Joe Corrigan (two singles), Chris Hanson (two singles), Justin Padgett (two singles) Eli Facenda (double), Dennis Cooney (single), Jay Kenyon (single), Mason Hauser (double)
RBI: Hanson (2), Corrigan (1), Walker Webster (1), Facenda (1), Padgett (1)

Game 2

Post 180

Hits: Eli Facenda (three singles), Jay Kenyon (single), Mario Pomponio (single), Chris Hanson (two singles), Walker Webster (triple), Corrigan (single), Rappoport (double)
RBI: Facenda (1), Rappoport (1)

Post 177

Hits: Michael Colonna (single), Evan Bray (single), Matthew Spaulding (single), Nicholas Priftis (single)
RBI: Spaulding (1)