KOKOMO – A tough day at the ball park resulted in a quick exit by Plymouth Post 27 in the American Legion state tournament as very little went right in a 14-1 loss to Floyds Knobs Post 42.
Not much went right for Post 27 on a very hot Saturday afternoon from the first pitch. The table was set in the first inning for Post 42 as leadoff hitter Dewey Cardwell singled, was bunted to second and scored on Ian Ellis single off Plymouth starter Nick Willoughby. It was more of the same in inning two as Evan Jewell led off the inning with a double was bunted to third and scored on a groundout giving Floyds Knobs all the runs they would need.
Meanwhile Post 27 struggled trying to find a way to push a run across against Ellis, much as they did the night before against Kokomo starter Austin Weaver.
“We had 11 hits on the game and not a lot of run production,” said Plymouth manager Will Hostrawser. “We didn’t get that timely hit again. We were swinging it decent we just couldn’t come up with that. They hit Nick (Willoughby) well early, we made a pitching change with Dylan (Hensley) and he settled them down for awhile. We kept throwing things at them to try and get through, their bats were about as hot as the turf was.”
Hensley came on in relief after a three run third and effectively shut down Post 42 until the eighth. A solo homer by Joe Burke was the only earned run surrendered by Hensley in four innings of work. Post 42 then exploded for six runs in the eighth to break the game open.
Meanwhile Post 27 bats remained silent at key moments.
“We needed something to get some momentum,” said Hostrawser. “Every time we’d make a mistake on the bases or something that would just snuff out any flame that we had. When you get to this level you have to take advantage of every opportunity.”
Plymouth could score just one run off Ellis in the second inning when Travis Upp doubled and scored on Billy Harness single. The bottom third of the Plymouth order did most of the damage offensively on the day with Upp continuing his red hot hitting from the night before going two for three and Andrew Cullers adding a two for four day. Matt Pritz also had a pair of hits.
“This is a great bunch of kids, I love traveling with them and being around them,” said Hostrawser. “They bring a little league youthful enthusiasm to the game. I don’t really think we showed how good we are this weekend and so that’s very disappointing.”
Plymouth ends their year at 20-13.
LINESCORE
Post 42 1 1 3 0 2 0 0 6 7-18-1
Post 27 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-11-1
WP – Ellis (6-0). LP – Willoughby (5-1). HR – Burke (FK). 2B – Jewell (FK), Lorenz (FK), Krueger (FK).
