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JR Curry pitches Beverly/Lowell past Sidney at state

LANCASTER - JR Curry and Grady Hesson combined on a three-hit shutout and Easton Walker and Kainan Bradford slammed run-scoring doubles to propel Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 to a 2-0 win over Sidney Post 217 to open American Legion State Tournament play Friday night at Beavers Field in Lancaster.

Curry fanned 12 hitters in six innings of work to pick up the win while Hesson tossed a scoreless seventh to gain the save as Post 389/750 advances into the winners bracket with the win.

"We talked in practice about how the first one and the last one are always the toughest wins to get in this tournament," said Beverly/Lowell head coach Todd Engle. "That showed today and it's probably one of those games where we didn't play our best but we are certainly not giving it back."

Beverly/Lowell was the visiting team in the game and got things going right away as lead-off batter Cam Sidwell singled up the middle and then came around to score when right fielder Easton Walker doubled to deep right center field.

Sidney starting pitcher Max Delzeith was able to minimize the early damage as he allowed just the one run and then went on to keep the Beverly/Lowell offense in check most of the way.

Curry struggled as well in the bottom of the first as Sidney loaded the bases with two outs but the former Caldwell Redskin got Carson Arnold to bounce out to Bradford at first base to leave the bases jammed.

With the first inning jitters behind him Curry was as impressive as he could be in the second as he completed a rare "immaculate inning" by fanning all three Sidney batters he faced on just nine pitches.

"He's (Curry) kind of been our dude all year long and we always use him early because he does such a great job behind the plate," said Engle of Curry, who is also an outstanding catcher. "He definitely showed up tonight and we needed every bit of it because we weren't getting much done at the plate to help."

After the first two batters reached to begin the game against him, Delzeith settled down on the bump for Sidney and retired 15 of the next 16 batters he faced.

Ten Beverly/Lowell batters had gone down in order against the Sidney right-hander before Sidwell led off the top of the sixth with his second knock of the game.

Walker struck out but Bradford followed with an RBI double to deep left-center field to give Post 389/750 a two-run lead.

Those two runs would be more than enough of a cushion for Curry who allowed just two base hits while walking four over his six innings of work.

Engle summoned Hesson on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and he allowed a two-out double off the bat of Collin Francis to keep things alive for Sidney before getting Atley Zerkle to tap out to Bradford at first to end the game.

Beverly/Lowell has struggled offensively most of the season and that was the case once again Friday as they managed just four base hits off of Delzeith, all coming from the top three hitters in the lineup.

"We got those first two hits and then we didn't get a hit for a long, long time," said Engle, whose batters fanned 11 times against Delzeith. "We are going to have to figure out some better approaches at the plate and score some runs and take some pressure off of our pitchers."

Bev/Low improved to 29-9 on the season with the win and will take on Lancaster Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in a winner's bracket battle while Sidney slipped to 23-11 with the loss.

Beverly/Lowell has faced Lancaster three times this season and came out on the short end of the stick all three times.

"We have to be better tomorrow because we are playing a team that has got us three times all right here on this field," said Engle. "They obviously play well here so if we don't show up tomorrow it's going to be hard to get a win."

Ohio American Legion State Tournament

at Beavers Field, Lancaster

Beverly/Lowell (Post 389/750) 2, Sidney (Post 217) 0

BL 100 001 -- 0 2-4-1

S 000 000 0 -- 0-3-0

WP: JR Curry: 6IP, 2H, 4BB, 12 SO

Save: Grady Hesson: IP, H.

LP: Max Delzeith: 7IP, 4H, 2ER, BB, 11SO.

Beverly/Lowell (29-9) hitting: Cam Sidwell: 2-3, 2R, Easton Walker: 1-3, RBI, 2B, Kainan Bradford: 1-3, RBI, 2B.

Sidney (23-11) hitting: Drew Langenkamp: 1-2, Austin Zimmerman 1-3, Collin Francis 1-4, 2B.

Next Game: Beverly/Lowell vs. Lancaster, 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Beavers Field