Scott County first one ousted at zone

~Anheuser-Busch eliminated Post 369 with a 10-8 victory on Friday.

ELLISVILLE, Mo. -- With five runs in the top of the first inning, Scott County Post 369 could not have asked for a better start to Friday's elimination game against Anheuser-Busch at the Zone 4 American Legion baseball tournament.

But five walks and a hit batsman in the second helped Anheuser-Busch Post 299 answer with seven runs of its own, and Scott County could not recover in a 10-8 loss at the Ellisville Athletic Association Sports Complex.

Post 369 finished the tournament 0-2 and was the first team eliminated, while Anheuser-Busch was set to play later Friday against the loser of the Ballwin/Eureka game.

"We had one good inning and they had one good inning. That's what it came down to," Scott County coach Tom Dirnberger said.

Both teams entered Friday's game playing for their tournament lives. Scott County has lost 17-2 to defending state champion Festus on Thursday, while Anheuser-Busch had fallen into the losers bracket with a 5-4, 10-inning loss to the host team, Eureka.

Post 369 started the game with five runs on five hits -- nearly matching Thursday's total of seven hits -- and Anheuser-Busch's players looked defeated when they came to the plate in the bottom of the first.

Scott County starter Andy Stephens retired two of the first three batters, yielding a walk to Kyle Roden. Ryne Moleski hit a pop fly to right that was dropped by Lucas Dirnberger, allowing Roden to score.

"You could tell that first inning, we were kind of thinking about packing it in," Anheuser-Busch coach Mike Clifton said. "What changed the game was that dropped fly ball the first inning. He catches that ball we're down 5-0 and that puts us down. That first run came in and that really helped."

Tom Dirnberger said Stephens complained of arm stiffness before coming out for the second inning, but Post 369 had little pitching depth and Stephens stayed in the game. Three of the first five hitters in the inning reached on walks, and Stephens hit another. The only out Stephens recorded in the inning came when Post 299 tried to bring home two runners on a squeeze bunt with the second runner gunned down at the plate.

Shane Menz, who had pitched sparingly over the summer, relieved Stephens and allowed four more runs to score, two on walks. Menz finally got a strikeout and a pop fly from the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters to end the inning.

By then, Post 299 scored seven runs on two hits, two errors, five walks and one hit batsmen to claim an 8-5 lead.

"It only happened that one inning," Dirnberger said of the wildness. "They earned what they got after that. They're a good team, but we're just as good as them. They put on a few squeeze plays to get us riled, and it probably did rile us a tad."

Stephens lasted 1 1/3 innings, allowing four walks, no hits and six runs.

"He just said, 'Get someone ready, my arm's tight,'" Dirnberger said. "He battled through it, but he just didn't get it done. I thought Shane did a great job for someone's who's not really a pitcher."

Anheuser-Busch put pressure on Scott County's defense in the second inning with three bunts. All three bunters reached base -- two on errors -- and two runs scored on squeezes.

"We had the one inning where they couldn't field the bunt, and we took advantage of it," Clifton said. "When we get our bunting game going, that's our bread and butter."

Menz settled in after the second, allowing just two more runs over the final 6 2/3 innings. Menz allowed four hits and walked four in that span, with one of those hits a solo home run off the bat of James Johndrow in the sixth.

Scott County scored a run in the fourth with three straight hits to make the score 8-6. After Jordan Felter's double, Chad Friend had an RBI double. Friend was gunned down at the plate on Jacob Essner's hit.

Post 369 looked like it may strike again in the eighth with runners on second and third and two outs. Felter ended the threat when he fouled off a bunt with two strikes for the strikeout.

"We had runners on second and third in the eighth and they were leaving quite a big gap between first and second," Tom Dirnberger said. "I wanted him to bunt it really hard by the pitcher."

Down 10-6 heading into the ninth, Scott County tried another rally. Essner and Menz hit back-to-back singles with one out, and Trenton Moses walked to load the bases. The runners all moved up on a wild pitch to push the score to 10-7 with runners on second and third. Blake Dirnberger drove in a run with a grounder to shortstop, but was called out at first on a close play. Aaron Jenkins ended the game with a pop fly to center.

"We were stroking the ball," Tom Dirnberger said. "I thought we'd have a chance to come back, and we were there."

Justin Peters picked up the win for Post 299, pitching four innings of relief. Nick Boeser pitched the first three innings, and Barry Gregg pitched the final two. Gregg and Johndrow had two hits apiece for Anheuser-Busch.

Essner and Lucas Dirnberger had three hits each to lead Scott County. Rusty Hendricks and Menz had two hits apiece.

Scott County, which was in its second year on the senior level, won its first District 14 title. The junior team had won a crown in 2004 with many of the same players. Post 369 lost one of its top players at the end of July when Caleb Daughhetee began his training camp in advance of his admission to the Air Force Academy.

"It's a good group of kids, and we'll have a good group coming back next year," Tom Dirnberger said. "I'm proud of them. They battled and they worked hard."