Beverly-Lowell Post 389/750's JR Curry, pictured here reaching third on a passed ball in front of Marietta Post 64's Logan Fling, had three hits and two runs-batted-in during a 4-3 elimination game victory and also earned the save in their 9-8 first championship game triumph versus St. Clairsville Post 159 on Saturday in the American Legion Region 8 District Tournament at Fort Frye High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

BEVERLY – Beverly-Lowell Post 389/750 lived to play another day as head coach Todd Engle’s program ousted Marietta Post 64, 4-3 in eight innings, and then handed previously unbeaten St. Clairsville Post 159 a 9-8 setback here Saturday at Fort Frye High School in the American Legion Region 8 District Tournament.

Post 159 skipper Mike Muklewicz’s club, which dropped to 19-10, is in the same exact position as they were in 2023 when B-L came out of the loser’s bracket and punched its ticket to the state tournament.

“It’s always a fun one,” admitted Muklewicz, whose team had a trio of errors which led to three unearned runs. “Todd and I just spoke about it and we know exactly what it’s going to come down to every Region 8 championship. It’s going to be us and them slugging it out. You got two, in my opinion, well-coached teams and well-disciplined teams. There’s some battlers on both sides. It just didn’t go our way.

“That was a good baseball game. They put up a three spot in the first inning. My guys were a little down and I looked at them and was like, ‘listen, do you think we’re going to walk in here and just take it away from them?’ It’s not going to happen. We were able to respond and put something back up and that sparked life into us and there weren’t very many zeroes on the board. It was a slugfest.”

The winner-take-all second championship game is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

Beverly-Lowell Post 389/750’s Kyler Starr strokes a single during a 9-8 first championship game victory against St. Clairsville Post 159 on Saturday in the American Legion Region 8 District Tournament at Fort Frye High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“We’ve done this I don’t know how many times in the past, but it just gets harder and harder,” admitted Engle, who watched JR Curry earn the save for winning relief pitcher Nate Silvus, who came in after starter Shawn Miller. “Now, I don’t know. We might be down to me throwing off the bump and that would be scary, scary.

“This year is a little different because we’re so young. Usually we go down South and we play and then when we come back here we’re not really scared of anybody. Well, we went down there and we lost our confidence and now we are kind of finding it back and trying to get the swag and what not.”

Dominic Fry, who joined Curry with three hits, got the top of the first going with a leadoff single. Kainan Bradford drove him in after a Coleman Welsh sac bunt. Silvus reached on a fielder’s choice and made it 2-0 when he raced home on Owen McCoy’s run-scoring double. Curry then switched places with him after stroking a two-bagger of his own.

Post 159 got two runs back in the second. Brody Saunders, who had two hits along with teammates Max Castro and Peyton Blue, doubled off the center field fence. Following a free pass to Blue and a Rowan Mellott sacrifice, Dylan Blon had an RBI fielder’s choice and Caleb Powell came through with a bloop RBI knock to center.

Curry’s second double in as many at-bats to open the third spelled the end for St. Clairsville starter Kody Carver, who gave way to eventual losing pitcher Hunter Hoffman.

Beverly-Lowell Post 389/750's Nate Silvus heads for home after getting a low-five from third base coach Trey Engle following his three-run bomb during a 4-3 elimination game victory against Marietta Post 64 during Saturday's American Legion Region 8 District Tournament at Fort Frye High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Beverly-Lowell, which improved to 26-13, made it 4-2 when Frye delivered a two-out RBI single to center to plate Curry.

Silvus reached on an error and scored on Curry’s RBI single to make it 5-2 heading into the last of the fourth, but Post 159 pushed across four runs to take their first lead of the afternoon.

Caleb Powell took one for the team to get the big inning started. After leadoff man Aydan Manning singled, Castro belted a two-run double to right-center. He crossed on Saunders’ RBI single and Blue’s RBI double capped the rally.

The lead was short lived, though, as Engle’s program responded with three runs in the top of the fifth, all of which were unearned thanks to a pair of errors. No. 9 hitter Kyler Starr reached on the first miscue and Frye followed by getting on via an error, which brought Starr home to square it. Following Welsh’s RBI hit and a McCoy sacrifice fly, Post 389/750 led 8-6.

Once again, SC had an answer. No. 9 hitter Max Miller cranked a solo tater – the first of his career – to left field with one away in the fifth. A two-out, stand-up, double by Castro was followed by Hoffman’s RBI single to right, which tied things at eight apiece.

Beverly-Lowell Post 389/750’s Grady Hesson delivers during a 4-3 elimination game triumph versus Marietta Post 64 during Saturday’s American Legion Region 8 District Tournament at Fort Frye High School. Hesson, who didn’t factor into the decision, allowed three hits and no earned runs with two walks and six punchouts in five innings of work. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Following a scoreless sixth inning where both sides were retired in order for the first time all day, B-L pushed across the winning run after Fry scored following his leadoff double thanks to Bradford’s RBI single back up the box.

Aside from a two-out, four-pitch, base-on-balls to Castro, Curry worked a clean inning to pick up the save.

“I’m trying to force feed some of these youngsters into thinking that maybe we’re a little bit better than what we are, but we’re trying to get there,” added coach Engle. “We’ve been so banged up, but everybody has.

“They were unfortunate today with a starter going down (first baseman Evan White in the top of first due to an ankle injury). I have the utmost respect for them and their program. They’ve done a h-ll of a job and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

Coach Muklewicz added of Miller’s no-doubter “I told him you should’ve told me you were going to do that earlier in the game and he said ‘I didn’t know I could.’ That was a huge spot.

“From top to bottom, you can’t ask for much more as a coach. We had a couple little mistakes there in the field, which opened the door for them. Outside of that, as a coach, you can’t ask for much more from your team.”

Elimination Game

Despite a quartet of errors, Beverly-Lowell managed to end Marietta Post 64’s campaign at 21-14.

Post 64 skipper Chad Porter’s crew fell behind 3-0 in the top of the third when Silvus hit a lined shot for a three-rum bomb to left. Welsh was aboard thanks to a single and Bradford reached on a Post 64 error.

Marietta starter Chris Copen was lifted after walking McCoy following Silvus’ round-tripper in favor of Carson Gandee, who worked six innings and allowed just six hits with one earned run, but suffered the mound setback.

Grady Hesson started for B-L and went five innings. He allowed three hits, two walks and had six strikeouts. He allowed two runs, but neither were earned.

Cooper Lauman had an infield single to open the fourth and went to second following an error. Logan Fling also reached on an error and later made it 3-2 when he crossed on Ethan Holbert’s RBI double to center.

Post 64 managed to square things at three in the bottom of the sixth. Fling singled and went to second on a wild pitch before Lucas Fullerton, who had a bad-hop barehanded grab at second base to retire Easton Walker for the first out in the fifth, moved him to third via a sacrifice bunt. An infield error with Holbert at the dish tied the affair.

In the top of the eighth, McCoy coaxed a four-pitch free pass from Gandee and was replaced by pinch-runner Jake Laswell. With two away and Laswell at second, Hesson came through with what proved to be the game-winning RBI single to center.

Fry pitched three innings of one-hit ball to earn the mound triumph.

Coach Engle’s program left 17 men on base in the contest and finished 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position.