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Things Coming Together For Post 184
Playing with nine able bodies, Post 184 won the Smokey Mountain Classic in Tennessee. "It was fun," said Nate Lavy (above). "With only nine we had a lot of guys playing out of position.
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06/30/09 - Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com
There may be security in numbers, and Piqua Post 184 coach Jim Roberts freely admits he’d like to have a few more bodies on hand.
But the old adage about numbers said nothing about quality. Want proof?
Monday night Post 184 won its 22nd game of the season with just 14 players in uniform…which came on the heels of the Post’s five-game sweep of the Smokey Mountain Classic in Jefferson City, Tennessee over the weekend when Roberts traveled with just 10. They came home with even fewer, after pitcher Justin Hoying suffered a fractured cheekbone from a line drive to the mound in the first inning of Piqua’s 3-1 win over Lexington (Tennessee) South on Thursday afternoon.
Hoying returned home and will have surgery Wednesday to correct damage to his cheekbone and eye socket. He can see out of the eye, and the prognosis for a full recovery is said to good.
In order, Piqua won 5-4 over Knoxville, 3-1 over Lexington (Tennessee), 7-3 over the Desert Eagles, 16-1 over Ohio Heat on Friday evening, and wrapped up the tournament championship with a 5-4 win over Morristown, Tennessee on Saturday...a game won by a two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning by Post 184's Sam Thobe.
“It was unbelievable,” said Roberts prior to Monday night’s game at Hardman Field. “We were playing with nine players after Justin got hurt. We were juggling people around. Nate Lavy pitched an unbelievable game for us. Jordan Stum pitched great. We played great defense and we came home with the trophy.”
But if that was unbelievable, for two hours and one minute Monday, Cole Selsor (who did not make the trip to Tennessee due to a prior commitment) nearly trumped the nine-man sweep of the tournament. Selsor pitched into the eighth inning against Fairborn Post 526 without giving up a hit before catcher Zac Gillespie broke the string with a ringing double to center field with two outs in the top of the inning. He walked six, struck out six , and threw 116 pitches before retiring with relief help from Steven McGeorge. Post 184 won the game, 7-1.
Ironically, it marked Selsor's first mound appearance since a one-inning stint during the first week of the season.
“I was tired in the eighth,” he admitted with a smile. “I was just trying to throw strikes, because our defense was playing so well behind me.”
Indeed it was. Piqua turned four double plays, and third baseman Nate Lavy made three plays during the course of the evening that would have rivaled the best of Brooks Robinson.
“I didn’t make the Tennessee trip,” said Selsor, “…but right now this is a lot of fun. It’s great to see this team come together like this and play well.”
“We’re hitting, and we’re playing good defense,” smiled Lavy…an understatement based on the fact that Monday’s error-free game marked the eighth such game of the season for Post 184. “We actually had some guys playing out of position by necessity in Tennessee, so that made winning even more fun.”
All that said, Post 184’s sudden seven-game win streak serves to only augment Wednesday’s regular-season finale with Troy at Hardman Field, a game that Roberts admits…is one he and his handful of players would like to win.
“We played them pretty good the first three games, but we haven’t beaten them. With district tournament coming up next week that’s something we’re going to have to figure out or our season’s going to be over. We have to beat them twice to win the tournament, but hey…they have to beat us twice to win, too.”
Now 22-7 on the season, it stands as Post 184’s best record in recent years. And while the future is decidedly now, Roberts is hoping for carryover impact on Piqua baseball for the future…at all levels.
“I hope someone’s noticing,” he admitted. “I hope this kind of season helps baseball at the high school level next year. I'd like for those players to make playing Legion ball a goal. I know they were really young this year with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but I’d love to have five, six, or even seven Piqua players on next year’s Legion team.
“I’d like to have the same enthusiasm for Legion ball in Piqua that Frosty has down in Troy. I know he works at it all year long, and I know he’s done it for a long time. But give him all the credit in the world. He’s all about baseball and their record reflects his commitment and interest in having a winning program. But still…I’d like to beat him.”
Only 42 people showed up Monday to welcome Post 184 home…many without any knowledge of the team's weekend success in Tennessee. But if security in numbers was lacking, Cole Selsor’s words spoke volumes about the experience of a team coming together, if but for a small, but appreciative audience.
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the numbers “do” lie.
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