By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Greenville American Legion Post 140 18u baseball team was run-ruled by Muncie Post 19, 13-3, on July 13.

The game broke open after Muncie scored seven runs in the top of the second inning. Muncie scored the 13 runs on 12 hits. Greenville had two errors in the game.

Muncie took advantage of Greenville’s errors. The errors snowballed into base runners for Muncie. On offense, there were uncharacteristic baserunning errors by Greenville that made Muncie’s day easier.

Even the pitching was off during the game. Head coach Chad Henry said he was going to space out pitching to keep arms fresh for their upcoming weekend tournament. It has worked out in the past, but didn’t work as well in this game. Muncie got a lot of free bases on walks and hit batters.

Henry said the team looked flat after having a nine day layoff. Most of the time, the team practices about a few hours before a game. It was just one of those games where the rest got to the team.

“In the summer, you can’t practice everyday like you do during the spring. You get them here on time and try to get them to get their reps in,” Henry said. “A lot of times, the way they go about that can be the difference in how they preform out there. If the guys are struggling at the plate during the games, they’re not going to magically come back the next day and start hitting.”

A positive from the game is the team raffled off a rifle as part of a fundraising event for the team. Henry said each year, the team raffles off a rifle to raise money for the team to keep costs low for the team. To incentivize the players to sell the raffle tickets, who ever sells the winning ticket receives a new bat.

Henry said the event is a success, the tickets practically sell themselves. It helps ensure that there is a spot on the team for players that want to play legion baseball. Henry said the summer is the time where the players can get exposure from colleges and get offers.

The team will now look towards the American Legion District Tournament this weekend in Sidney. Henry thinks the team will put this game behind them and be more prepared for the tournament.

“We’re going to come out here and everybody should be well rested. We expect to do well this weekend,” Henry said.

Contact Daily Advocate Sports Editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]