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For the second time in as many days, Marietta Post 64 eliminated an opposing team from the Region 4 Tournament while keeping its own state tournament hopes alive.
Thursday at Pioneer Park, Post 64 claimed an 8-3 win over Zanesville Post 29, setting up a rematch with Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 at 4 p.m. today in another elimination game.
Post 64 lost to Beverly/Lowell 5-1 on Tuesday before dispatching New Philadelphia 17-0 on Wednesday.
Thursday, Marietta (16-21) got a quality start on the mound from Braun Doak, who allowed three runs over six innings. Doak pounded the strike zone, issuing no walks while punching out three batters to earn the win. He plunked the first batter of the seventh inning before giving way to Jacob Sealey, who pitched a scoreless frame to end it.
Doak also scored the game's first run. After hitting a two-out single in the top of the first, Doak came all the way around on Tate Jonas' triple to right to make it 1-0.
Zanesville, which finished the season with a 9-25 record, answered back in the bottom half of the first. After Soloman Norris hit a leadoff single, Quinton Warden followed with a bunt for a base hit, though the throw to first got away for an error and allowed Norris to come around and tie the game at 1-all. Later, with two one and one out, Doak got Nick Atkinson to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Marietta took command of the game with a five-spot in the second inning. With runners on the corners, Jayce Hilverding's squeeze bunt put Post 64 back on top, 2-1. AJ Copen followed with a grounder to third, but the throw to first was off the mark and allowed Bo Jonas to score. Will Tornes doubled in a run to make it 4-1 before Sealey and Doak produced back-to-back run-scoring groundouts to stretch the lead to 6-1.
Zanesville starter Karter Burrell settled in from there and put up zeroes in the third, fourth and fifth innings. That allowed the Post 29 offense to claw its way back into the game.
Burrell's RBI single in the fourth cut it to 6-2, and Matthew Rizer brought Zanesville within three with a run-scoring base knock in the fifth.
Doak gave himself some breathing room in the top of the sixth, though, plating Tornes on a single to make it 7-3. Bo Jonas added some more cushion in the seventh with a squeeze bunt that brought in Gavin Fling to make it a five-run lead.
Sealey entered with a runner on and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh, but immediately got Norris to ground into a twin-killing. Warden kept Zanesville's hopes alive with a triple to right field, but Sealey induced a routine groundout to end the game.
Burrell pitched six innings, fanning four batters and walking three in a losing effort. Weston Warden struck out two in the seventh for Post 29.
Tornes and Doak had two hits apiece for Post 64, which took advantage of three Zanesville errors while committing two of its own.
Post 29 saw Quinton Warden collect a game-high three hits while Norris had two and scored two runs.
BEVERLY/LOWELL 24, STEUBENVILLE 0
Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 took the first step into digging itself out of the losers bracket with a dominating 24-0 win over winless Steubenville Post 33 in a Region 4 tournament elimination game Thursday at Pioneer Park.
Post 389/750 batted around three times in its five at-bats and held a 16-0 lead at the end of just two innings.
Bev/Low scored seven times in the first inning, nine more in the second and cruised from there to advance in tourney play and set up a rematch with Marietta.
B/L downed Marietta 5-1 in the tournament opener before falling to St. Clairsville 4-3 on Wednesday. St. Clairsville played Cambridge/Belle Valley in the winner's bracket final late Thursday. The loser of that game will play the winner between Marietta and Beverly/Lowell at 7 p.m. today, with a spot in the tournament final -- and a state tournament berth on the line.
Dominic Fry and Jack McCurdy led a 17-hit Beverly/Lowell attack by collecting three hits apiece.
Kainan Braford, Wyatt Siley and Grady Hesson each had two-hits for Beverly/Lowell, which also played a clean game defensively with no errors.
Wade Duskey got the start on the bump for Todd Engle's squad and tossed a pair of scoreless innings while Coleman Steimer came on in relief and tossed three scoreless frames to pick up the victory.
At Pioneer Park
Region 4 Tournament
Elimination Games
Marietta (Post 64) 8, Zanesville (Post 29) 3
M 150 001 1 -- 8 6 2
Z 100 110 0 -- 3 9 3
WP: Braun Doak 6 IP, 0 BB, 3 SO
Jacob Sealey 1 IP, 0 BB, 0 SO
LP: Karter Burrell 6 IP, 3 BB, 4 SO
Weston Warden 1 IP, 0 BB, 2 SO
Marietta (16-21) hitting: Will Tornes 2-4, 2B, R, RBI; Sealey R, RBI; Braun Doak 2-3, R, 2 RBIs; Tate Jonas 1-3, 3B, RBI; Gavin Fling R; Logan Fling R; Bo Jonas 1-2, R, RBI; Jayce Hilverding RBI; AJ Copen R
Zanesville (9-25) hitting: Solomon Norris 2-4, 2B, 2 Rs; Quinton Warden 3-4, 3B; Matthew Rizer 1-4, RBI; Tre Butcher 1-2, R; Ja'ckye McBride 1-3, 2B; Burrell 1-3, RBI
Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 24, Steubenville (Post 33) 0 (5 inn.)
B 792 24 -- 24 17 0
S 000 00 -- 0 4 2
WP: Coleman Steimer 3IP, 2H, BB, 3 SO
Wade Duskey: 2IP, 2H, BB, SO
LP: Patrick Jenkins
Beverly/Lowell hitting: Dominic Fry 3-4, 2R, 3 RBI, 3B, Jack McCurdy 3-4, 2R, RBI, Kainan Bradford: 2-3, 3R, 3RBI, 2B, Wyatt Siley 2-3, 2RBI, Grady Hesson 2-3, 4R, HR, Cam Sidwell 1-3, 3R, RBI, 2B, Jake Laswell 1-1, RBI, 2B, JR. Curry 1-1, 2R, RBI, Caden Henniger 1-1, R, Kyler Starr 1-5, RBI.
Steubenville hitting: Cole Yourkovich 1-2, Joe Vranish 1-2, Patrick Jenkins 1-2, Jace Wojtas 1-2.
Next game: Marietta vs. Beverly-Lowell, 4 p.m. today at Pioneer Park