Greenville American Legion Post 140 tops Greenville ACME in 16U baseball action
GREENVILLE – Greenville American Legion Post 140 Thunder 16U and Greenville ACME 16U went head to head in a matchup of two local baseball teams with Post 140 coming out on top with an 8-3 win.
“It was fun,” said Post 140 coach, Austin Baumgardner. “It’s always fun playing against those guys, we know a bunch of them.”
“We knew it was going to be a tough ballgame,” said Greenville ACME coach, Ryan Delk. “Those first two innings just got us but super proud of the team.”
“Getting the 16U out here in front of the home crowd and show the collection of talent we have built it is really exciting,” said Post 140 18U coach a program director, Chad Henry.
Post 140 took an early 4-1 lead after one inning of play and plated two runs in the top of the second to lead 6-1. A single run in the top of the fourth had the Thunder squad leading 7-1 after four complete.
“We have to get over that hump – we come out flat and that is kind of this team’s MO,” Delk said. “We have to find a way to get them motivated a little quicker but the positive is…they battle to the end even when they get down at the beginning.”
Greenville ACME battled back to take the final three innings 2-1 before falling to Post 140.
Greenville’s Bryce Blumenstock went 5.2 innings to earn the win, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out five. Seth Hoover pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless ball in relief surrendering one hit and a walk to earn the save.
“Bryce Blumenstock pitched very well for us,” Baumgardner stated. “Our defense played very well and Seth Hoover came in and shut them down.”
“Bryce looks like his old man (Eric Blumenstock) out there,” Henry said with a chuckle. “Eric might not say it but Eric is tied for the single season school record at Greenville with seven wins and now I see Bryce out here throwing that same pitch, that splitter that daddy threw back in the day and it is fun to see him.
“Bryce has always been this mild mannered kid but you get him out there on the mound and he’s got a little bit of attitude to him and I love seeing it,” continued Henry. “He is an incredibly strong kid, just to see him out there doing his thing is awesome. The kid can flat out throw. I’m excited to see what he’s going to do for us next year.”
“That’s a good team, they have good pitching,” Delk said. “Bryce Blumenstock plays on our team a lot as well. He’s our workhorse so we know what he has.”
Carson Good surrendered two earned runs on five hits over three innings, striking out eight and walking one. Drew Hamilton threw four innings in relief allowing one run, one walk while striking out eight for Greenville 16U ACME.
“Carson Good and Drew Hamilton pitched amazing,” said Delk. “We hit ok.”
For Post 140, Hoover went 2-3 including a double with 3-runs scored, Kiser was 2-3 and Rindler and Burns each accounted for a single.
Adam Edwards crushed a run scoring triple for ACME, Quinten Gardner drilled a double and Owen Mcgreevey, Drew Hamilton and Braeden Wills each knocked a single.
“They (Post 140) take the top two or three from each team but this is a great group,” Coach Delk said of the local ACME 16U team. “The bulk of them are going to be sophomores, one freshman and two are going to be juniors so Greenville baseball has some positives moving forward – I’m excited to watch them play the rest of their careers.”
Post 140 Thunder played error free ball while ACME was committing seven errors on the night.
“Defensively and pitching we did great,” Coach Baumgardner said. “We could have done a few better things at the plate but at the end of the day we got the win.”
420 100 0 7 6 0 Post 140 Thunder 16U
100 011 0 3 5 7 ACME 16U
