August 9 - Matt Eberhart hit a walk off sacrifice fly to give Leesburg Post 34 a 4-3 win over Flemington (N.J.) Post 159 in the American Legion Mid-Atlantic Region championship game on Sunday.
The game-winning fly ball to right field by Eberhart, a graduate of Loudoun Valley, scored pinch runner Kyle Bowles (Loudoun Valley) and capped a two-run ninth as Post 34 completed a late-game rally after falling behind, 3-2, in the top of the fifth. The tournament’s host team capped a 4-1 run through the tournament, and the win advances them to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C. later this week.
“Everybody’s been kind of clamoring at the bit to get down there,” Post 34 coach Brenton Peters said. “Going through the region tournament was a roller coaster ride. Our team kind of pulled together and started to put things together right at the right time, executing at the plate, in the field and on the mound. Everything fell into place.”
Post 34 starter Cameron Eck (Loudoun County) pitched seven strong innings in Sunday’s final, posting four scoreless frames before Flemington’s three-run fifth, then posting two more scoreless innings before yielding to reliever Kurtis Meyer (Loudoun Valley). Eck struck out eight and Meyer fanned another three, earning the win after allowing two hits over the final two innings.
Meyer also scored the tying run in the ninth, scoring when the Flemington third baseman committed a throwing error on a base hit bunt by Jake Cunningham (Loudoun County).
Eck, Meyer, Cunningham and second baseman Jack Howard (Heritage) each had two hits, while Eberhart and first baseman Griffin Buscavage (Loudoun County) had run-scoring singles in the second to give Post 34 an early 2-0 advantage.
Leesburg overcame deficits in three of its four wins, but found ways to respond late in games behind an experienced core that had helped Post 34 advance to the regional semifinals last year.
We’d go down a couple runs, [but] the guys knew they could come back,” Peters said. “Knowing my team had confidence to do that, that’s a great feeling.”
Eck was 5-for-9 in the tournament, while Eberhart hit .412 (7-for-17) and drove in six runs and TJ Holdredge (Loudoun Valley) hit .353 (6-for-17) with a team-high seven RBI. Zach Costello (Loudoun County) and Cunningham each hit .389 (7-for-18), and Costello led the tournament with nine runs.
Post 34 will open play at in Legion baseball’s 90th World Series on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Cumberland (R.I.) Post 86/14, the Northeast Region champion. Leesburg will also face Mid-South champ Texarkana (AK) Post 58 and Western champ San Mateo (CA) Post 82 in pool play, with two teams from each pool advancing to Monday’s semifinals. The semifinal games and Tuesday’s championship game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
Photo of Post 34 celebrating their Mid-Atlantic Region championship courtesy of Leesburg Post 34
