ILION POST 2, LITTLE FALLS POST 1
ILION, N.Y. — Pitching has been the name of the game this summer in Herkimer County and Tuesday’s game between posts 31 of Little Falls and 920 of Ilion was more of the same.
Jabin Weaver tossed a five-hitter and allowed one earned run for Little Falls Post but ended up on the short end of a 2-1 score. Ilion Post has won each of the teams’ three meetings this summer and has limited Little Falls Post to four runs in 27 innings. Ilion Post, a 4-0 winner in the first game played between the teams and a 4-3 winner in 13 innings at home last week, has scored only 10 times in the series.
“The last five or six games you can’t ask for any more from our pitchers than we’re getting,” Little Falls Post manager Scott Blumberg said.
Ilion Post scored single runs in the first and third innings with Little Falls Post squeezing its run in between in the top of the second.
John LeClair led off with a ground rule double in the bottom of the first inning. LeClair sent a drive over the head of Little Falls center fielder Paul Barnes and had already passed second base when the ball slipped under the Diss Memorial Field fence. An error on Bill LeClair’s grounder put runners on the corners and John LeClair tagged up and scored when Mike Fahy flew out to Ryan Dawley in left field for the first out of the inning. Bill LeClair had stolen second base and took third as his brother scored but a shallow fly ball to right and a grounder to second left him stranded at the end of the inning.
Little Falls Post promptly got the run back. Patrick Shepardson doubled to right field to start the top of the second and scored on a one-out single by Andrew Gorinshek.
Ilion Post broke the 1-all tie in the bottom of the third. Dylan Todd, Ilion Post’s pesky No. 9 batter, bunted for a hit leading off and John LeClair followed with a single. Bill LeClair bluffed a bunt and Todd stole an uncovered third base. The younger LeClair then flew out to Barnes in center field with Todd tagging up to score the go-ahead run.
Little Falls Post threatened repeatedly against left-hander Dan Colburn but would not put another run across the plate. Colburn worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth inning with a shallow fly ball and a force play. The fifth inning ended with a called third strike with runners at second and third. Little Falls Post had runners at second and third with one out in the sixth and Colburn escaped again with a strikeout and a routine fly ball.
After watching Little Falls Post strand eight runners through six innings and five in scoring position, Ilion went to its bullpen for the seventh. John LeClair took the ball from Colburn and allowed just one batter to reach base on a two-out error. One night after scoring the tying runs on a throwing error from third base with two outs in the top of the seventh inning in Herkimer, Little Falls Post got a glimmer of hope when Dylan Blumberg reached base on a similar miscue. The wide throw pulled Fahy off the bag and left Blumberg at first base while LeClair closed out the game with a strikeout.
Weaver struck out four batters and walked two. John LeClair’s leadoff double in the first inning was the only extra base hit he allowed and LeClair was also the only Ilion Post player with more than one hit, reaching base all three times he came to the plate with a single, a double and an error.
Shepardson and Gorishek each had two of the seven Little Falls Post hits. Shepardson went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Gorinshek singled, doubled and walked in three trips to the plate while driving in the team’s only run.
Colburn fanned five batters and LeClair added one to end the game.
Ilion Post (9-7-1, 4-1 Herkimer County) is home again Wednesday for a game against Herkimer Post 38 (2-10, 1-4 Herkimer County), the only team it has lost to in league play this season. A win would clinch a share of first place for the regular season for Ilion Post, the nine-time defending county champion.
Little Falls Post (5-10, 3-3 Herkimer County) is off until Monday when it will travel to Herkimer to take on Post 38 at Harmon Field. The game was originally scheduled as a home game for Little Falls Post but was bumped off the main field at Veterans Memorial Park in favor of a rescheduled New York Collegiate Baseball League game between the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs and the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. The site change balances the schedule between Little Falls and Herkimer posts; Herkimer Post gave up an earlier home date because of a scheduling conflict of its own and played a doubleheader in Little Falls June 15. Little Falls Post has beaten Herkimer Post three times already this summer.
ILION POST 2, LITTLE FALLS POST 1
Little Falls Post 010 000 0 — 1 7 2
Ilion Post 101 000 x — 2 5 1
Jabin Weaver and Kevin Chrisman. Dan Colburn, John LeClair (7) and Myles Malta. W — Colburn. L — Weaver. Sv — J. LeClair. 2B — Little Falls Post, Patrick Shepardson, Andrew Gorinshek; Ilion Post, J. LeClair. Records — Little Falls Post 5-10, 3-3 Herkimer County; Ilion Post 9-7-1, 4-1 Herkimer County.
Compiled From Evening Times Staff Reports
AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL —
