Shelby County Legion Wins Twice Friday; In Divisional Tournament Championship Game

After losing their first game of the Divisional Tournament in Paris, the Shelby County American Legion team has bounced back to advance to the tournament championship game.

Shelby County, representing American Legion Posts 289, 611 and 725, downed Lincoln Legion Post 263, 11-6, and then defeated Pontiac Legion Post, 6-5.

Technically, Shelby County won the first game via a forfeit.  Lincoln officially protested the game in the second inning.  In a ruling after the game concluded, it was determined that the ruling on the field was correct.  As a result of losing the protest, Lincoln forfeited the game.  Since the game was forfeited after the conclusion of the contest, all stats stand.

Recent Effingham High School graduate Brady Walker came to the rescue in the win over Lincoln.  After starter Mike Baker struggled, allowing five runs, three earned, on four hits and two walks in 1-1/3 innings of work, Walker took the hill and pitched the final 7-2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on seven hits and no walks while fanning five to pick up the win.

Shelby County scored two runs in the first and three in the second to take a 5-0, but Lincoln scored five in the bottom of the second to tie the game and scored a run in the third to take a 6-5 lead.

Walker held Lincoln from that point, though, while Shelby County scored a run in the fourth to tie the game 6-6 and then posted a five-run fifth inning to put the game away.

Besides his performance on the mound, Walker had four hits including a double for Shelby County and scored three times.  Nicholas Ferris doubled three times and drove in six runs;  Luke Hatfield tripled, scored twice and drove in three runs; Andy Cole reached base and scored a run; Kyle Floyd doubled and walked three times and scored twice; Seth Kline singled twice and scored; and Jake Baker singled, scored and drove in a run.

The second contest was a dandy; Shelby County took a 1-0 lead in the second and added a run in the fourth to make it 2-0, but Pontiac scored four times in the fifth to take a 4-2 advantage.  Only one of the Pontiac runs was earned.  Shelby County scored in the fifth to pull within 4-3 and tied the game 4-4 in the seventh, then scored twice in the eighth to regain the lead at 6-4.  Pontiac rallied in the ninth and scored an unearned run but Kyle Floyd got the final out to preserve the win.

Mike Baker, who had started the first game, bounced back in the second game and threw well other than the one bad inning to get the win, giving up four runs, one earned, on nine hits and no walks while striking out five.  Floyd pitched the final inning, giving up the one unearned run on one hit and no walks while fanning one to record the save.

At the plate for Shelby County, Andy Cole at the top of the order had three hits including a double, scored and drove in a run; Brady Walker doubled and singled and scored a run; Kyle Floyd tripled and doubled and drove in two runs; Luke Hatfield singled; Hayden Cole singled twice and doubled and scored three runs; Seth Kline singled; and Jake Baker tripled and scored and drove in two runs.

The two wins pushed Shelby County Legion's record to 31-14 and into the championship game set for 5pm today against Danville.