Green's bat helps Post 120 past C.I. Chiefs

Dustin White

MATTOON — Chase Green had four hits in his first four at-bats Thursday at the Mattoon Senior American Legion Firecracker Classic, but it was his hitless fifth trip to the plate that ended up leading Effingham Post 120 to victory.

Green's hard-hit two-out grounder to shortstop was mishandled in the bottom of the eighth-inning against the Central Illinois Chiefs, allowing Derek Meinhart to score the winning run from third base in a 2-1, extra-inning win at Grimes Field in Peterson Park.

Effingham's offense continued its abysmal play as of late; Green had over half of his team's seven hits, and Post 120 stranded 11 baserunners against soft-tossing righthander Ryne Floyd.

"I've got to give (Central Illinois) a ton of credit," said Post 120 Manager Kenny Miller. "Ordinarily, I'd be very embarrassed to lose to a junior legion team, but it was no disgrace to have that team play even up with us.

"It's a good bunch of kids and they do a lot of things the right way."

The Chiefs just finished up a third-place run in the Junior Firecracker Classic, going 3-1. They are filling in for Olney in the senior field after Olney pulled out at the last minute.

"My kids jumped at the chance to play in this tournament," said Chiefs Coach Tony Price. "I told them to just have fun with this, but still come out expecting to win every time. They did that (Thursday)."

Floyd ended up throwing 141 pitches as the Chiefs' staff has been stretched by playing in both Firecracker tourneys, and Price had nothing but praise for his gutty effort.

"Ryne kept us alive and kept us in it," said Price, whose Windsor-based team features players from Windsor, Neoga, Beecher City, Altamont, Cumberland and Shelbyville. "We know Effingham's a good team. They had a couple bad breaks and have played a lot of games lately, but you could say the same about us."

Indeed you could. The Chiefs left 10 men on base themselves.

Central Illinois had a great chance to break a 1-1 tie in the fourth as No. 9 hitter Andy Cole laced a gap shot to left field with a runner on first; unfortunately for the Windsor native, his hit bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double and forced the lead runner to stop at second rather than score as he would have done.

Wright struck out Bryn Price to end the threat and lasted 5 1/3 innings before Chad Green came on to strand a man at second in the sixth.

Green ended up throwing 35 pitches in 2 2/3 innings to get the win, but lessening his chances of being able to start today against Newburgh, Ind.

Meinhart got the winning rally started as he reached on an error to start the bottom of the eighth. He stole second on a botched hit-and-run, apparently sliding under the waiting tag in a close call that drew the ire of the Chiefs' bench.

Two strikeouts later, however Meinhart was still on base, taking third on a wild pitch to Jordan Amlong. Alex Westendorf was hit by a pitch and stole second during Chase Green's at-bat before the game-ending play.

The Chiefs scored a run in the first on a Price single, Cole Ohnesorge walk and Kyle Floyd chopper to third to put two in scoring position. Nate Holmes' soft liner to right was dropped for a sacrifice fly and an error, although Wright minimized the damage with a strikeout and a popup.

Post 120 got it back quickly as Chase Green singled to right and took second on one of three Cody McCollum sacrifice bunts. Chad Green's bouncer to second got his brother to third, from where he scored on Ben Mehl's sharp single to left.

That was about the only time Effingham executed on offense, however. Post 120 left the bases loaded in the third and stranded men on second and third in the fifth. Double plays in the fourth and sixth also hurt along with leaving two men on in the seventh as the No. 4 and No. 5 positions in the lineup popped up.

"Our offense is still anemic at best," said Miller. "If we get a run across in the seventh, we don't burn Chad for (today). We won, but not quite the way we wanted."

Still, a win is a win after Wednesday's horrid showing against Kansas, which lost earlier Thursday to Stewardson-Strasburg by a 9-7 final.

That means Effingham is not dead, but it can't lose to Newburgh in today's 1:15 p.m. game at Grimes Field and still have a chance at Sunday's semifinals and finals.

Other Pool Play

In Effingham's Pool C, Stewardson-Strasburg Post 611/289 is 2-0 after its Thursday win over Kansas and an 11-3 win over Central Illinois Wednesday.

Jaden Widdersheim, who was also the winning pitcher, broke a 7-7 tie in the top of the seventh with an RBI base hit, while Brian Suckow was 3-for-5 with a solo home run and the go-ahead RBI in a five-run fifth inning.

Effingham and Kansas are now 1-1, while the C.I. Chiefs are 0-2. Newburgh hasn't played yet; it will face Stew-Stras today at 11 a.m. and then Effingham at 1:15 p.m. Windsor and Kansas play at 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, Teutopolis Post 924 leads Pool B with a 2-1 record thanks to today's 8-5 beating of Macon County.

In that game, Tony Zerrusen had three hits, including a double, while Derek Repking singled three times and Jordan Roepke singled and homered to make a winner of pitcher Luke Bushur.

T-town has today off and finishes pool play Saturday at 9 a.m. against Mount Vernon, Ind., which is 1-1 along with Macon County and Toledo, although Toledo was to play the 0-1 Paris club to wrap up Thursday night action.

Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.

At Grimes Field

Peterson Park, Mattoon

Firecracker Classic Pool Play

C.I. CHIEFS

--------------ab--r--h--bi

Price cf--------4--1--1--0

C. Ohnesorge rf--3--0--0--0

K. Floyd c-------4--0--2--0

Hutchison cr----0--0--0--0

Ledbetter cr----0--0--0--0

Holmes ss-------3--0--2--1

McMechan 3b---4--0--0--0

Miller 1b--------3--0--1--0

Hutchison 2b----1--0--0--0

McFarland 2b---4--0--2--0

Pikowski dh-----4--0--0--0

R. Floyd p-------0--0--0--0

Cole lf----------3--0--1--0

TOTALS--------33--1--9--1

EFFINGHAM

--------------ab--r--h--bi

Cs Green ss------5--1--4--0

McCollum 3b----1--0--0--0

Cd Green 1b-----3--0--0--0

Mehl dh--------2--0--1--1

Zink rf---------4--0--0--0

Meinhart 2b----4--1--1--0

J. Jansen cf-----3--0--0--0

T. Ohnesorge lf--1--0--0--0

Amlong lf-------2--0--1--0

Westendorf c---3--0--0--0

TOTALS--------28--2--7--1

Central Illinois--100--000--00--—--1

Effingham-----100--000--01--—--2

E — Holmes 2, McFarland, Zink. LOB — Central Illinois 10, Effingham 11. DP — Central Illinois 2. 2B — Holmes, McFarland, Cole. SB — Mehl, Meinhart, Westendorf. SAC — McCollum 3. SF — Holmes.

PITCHING SUMMARY

--------------IP--H--R-ER-BB-SO

Central Illinois

R. Floyd (L)-----8--7--2--1--4--3

Effingham

Wright-------5.1--6--1--1--1--7

Cd Green (W)--2.2--3--0--0--0--3

WP — R. Floyd. HBP — J. Jansen (by R. Floyd), Westendorf (by R. Floyd). PB — K. Floyd. T — 1:52.

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