The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Sherrill Post dominates in playoff opener
Van-Dreason, Roden homer in victory
Sherrill Post cruised through the American Legion Baseball District 5 regular season this summer, compiling a 17-1 record to earn the top seed in the double-elimination playoff tournament which began Sunday.
For coach John Roden’s team, the postseason opener couldn’t have gone much better.
Andrew Roden’s fifth-inning home run capped off another powerful performance for the No. 1 seed, giving it a 12-2 victory over Ilion Post at Noyes Park.
“We wanted to get this game under our belt,” said coach Roden. “I told the kids that we had a great regular season but that’s over with. It’s 0- 0 starting today. We gotta come out and play. We have a team that can compete and be contenders for this but we gotta come out and prove it and I was very pleased with how the team came out offensively, defensively, the pitchers did a great job.”
Sherrill Post provided starting pitcher Connor Van-Dreason with plenty of run support early and he worked in and out of trouble but allowed just one run over three and one-third innings before he was removed after throwing 58 pitches, allowing him to be eligible to pitch again on Wednesday. Anthony Farina pitched the final one and two-thirds innings, allowing
one run.
An Evan Dunning single and a walk to Kobe Jackson gave Ilion Post runners on first and second with one outs but shortstop Blake Van-Dreason caught a line drive off the bat of Robert Baker and he stepped on second to double Dunning off for the unassisted double play to end the inning.
Sherrill Post wasted no time taking the lead. Nate Palmer led off with a fly ball to center field that Dunning couldn’t haul in, allowing the hosts’ speedy leadoff hitter to reach second. Davey Moffett’s single two batters later scored Palmer and gave the hosts the lead. Roden followed with a single before Zach Nell hit a hard grounder to third that scored Moffett. Nell reached safely but Roden was thrown out trying to take third on the play. With a 2- 0 lead and two outs, Blake Van-Dreason kept the rally going when he lifted a fly ball over the right-field fence for a two-run home run.
“I thought it was just a pop fly but then it just kept going,” he said. “It was nice.”
Ryan Palmer and Dylan Shlotzhauer worked consecutive walks before TJ Horodnick and Nate Palmer hit back-to-back RBI singles, extending the lead to 6- 0 before Horodnick was tagged out at third to end the inning.
Blake Van-Dreason drove in his third run of the game in the bottom of the second when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing Moffett in to score for a 7-0 advantage.
Two errors allowed Sherrill Post to tack on three more runs in the bottom of the third, stretching the advantage to 10-0.
Connor Van-Dreason, meanwhile, allowed two runners to reach with one out in the second and third innings but stranded all four. Ilion Post broke through in the top of the fourth, starting with a leadoff single by Coby Miosek. Van-Dreason struck Dan Hale out before going to a 3-2 count against the next batter. Farina came on in relief and threw ball four before walking the next two batters as well, forcing in Miosek for the visitors’ first run. He got out of the jam with a ground ball that Shlotzhauer fielded at second, making the tag and the throw to first for a double play.
Shlotzhauer then helped his team get that run back in the home half of the fourth when he roped a one-out double and scored on a Nate Palmer double two batters later for an 11-1 edge.
Ilion Post kept the game alive with a run in the top of the fifth. Baker hit a one-run double and scored when Colin Mane followed with a double of his own to make the score 11-2. Farina retired the next two batters to strand Maine on second.
Roden ended the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth, lining a solo home run over the rightfield fence to put the 10run mercy rule into effect.
“It was a really big win because, you know, it’s double elimination and losing first round, it kind of hurts you because then if you make it to the championship you gotta beat the team twice,” said Blake Van-Dreason. “That’s kind of hard.”
It was also important for the team to avoid the first-round heartbreak that many of its players felt during the spring when, playing for No. 2 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the Section III Class B playoffs, they were upset in the first round.
“They talk about it,” said coach Roden. “I didn’t re- ally emphasize it much. I know what I’ve got here. These kids know what they gotta do. I don’t really have to keep them focused. They knew also how important it was to come out and really put a good performance on and they did.”
Sherrill Post advances to face Smith Post at 5:15 p.m. today at Noyes Park. The two teams split their regular season meetings and Smith Post’s 5-1 victory on June 26 was Sherrill Post’s only loss of the regular season.