By James Costello
Sports Editor

PLYMOUTH — Post 27 staged comebacks in both games, but Osceola had the final say in the high-scoring nightcap as the teams split an American Legion doubleheader 5-3, 13-12 Sunday at Bill Nixon Field.

While not as decisive, Plymouth’s rally in the second game Sunday was at least more dramatic.
Down 11-nil following a seven-run fourth from Osceola Post 3-8 highlighted by a three-run shot to center by reliever Chris Gearhart, Plymouth made up the seemingly insurmountable deficit with 11 runs in the next three frames.

Murray State recruit shortstop Brandon Elliott sparked Post 27’s big fourth with a three-base rip to deep right to lead off frame and scored when Post 27 first baseman Damon Howe pulled a 2-2 Gearhart offering to right. Following two straight strikeouts, designated hitter Brent Easterday poked a two-strike pitch into center, catcher Cody Bucher loaded the bases after he was hit in the head by a pitch, and number nine batter Jake Bloom drove in Howe and Easterday with a line single to left. Steve Cornett singled through the infield gap into left to score Bucher, and Bloom scored on a passed ball in the next at-bat to cut Osceola’s lead to 11-5.

Elliott led off the fifth with another three-base shot, this time singling and reaching third on an error in right, and Plymouth batted through the order a second straight time with five runs off four hits, including three with two outs. Joel Solis drew a walk from Post 308 set-up man Andrew Whitlow on a full count in the sixth, took second on an error at third and scored on a hard grounder into left by Mo Weddington to knot the game at 11-all.

“No quit in them. Lot of ground to make up but they kept fighting, and a lot of it was done with two outs,” said Post 27 coach Greg Briles. “That says a lot for the kids. They went up there and fought hard.

“Give Brandon Elliott a lot of credit. His hustle sparked those runs there those two innings where we got our five runs each inning. You’ve got to have a leader, and Brandon’s a leader on the team and he was hustling the whole day.”

Post 27’s revamped play at the plate energized its defense as well, as Osceola went down 1-2-3 in the fifth. With two on and one out in the top of the sixth, Jay Badell took over on the mound and fanned two straight to keep Plymouth in the game, but there was no quit in Post 308’s players, either.
Matt Price reached on an error at third to lead off the inning and Cam Schooley advanced him on a sacrifice bunt back to Badell. With two outs and two strikes, Max Andresen fouled off three straight pitches to stay alive, eventually outlasting Badell with an RBI line drive to right and was scored on the next at-bat as Gary Downey lined a double into center-right. Plymouth fired back with another run in the bottom of the seventh, but Price got the save for Post 308, inducing a pop-out with two on for the final out of the game.

“We scored 11 runs, and they did a great job of coming back,” said Osceola head coach Jim Kamickiewicz. “You’ve got to hand it to them. We scored two runs to win it. I guess that’s good baseball for us in the last inning.”

Andresen, who scored the winning run for the visitors in the nightcap, also opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the top of the first. He finished the game 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBI.
“He’s only a junior,” said Kamickiewicz of Andresen. “We’re playing against seniors and graduated seniors so I’m really proud of our kids. That’s a great job for a junior. I give credit to Max Andresen, he’s got a beautiful swing.”

Post 308 also took an early lead in the opening game Sunday.

Downing advanced to second and scored on a pair of passed ball after singling to right in the top of the second, Andresen doubled and scored on a Richy Dubois single in the fourth, and Caleb Bikney reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth, scoring on a pair of throwing errors and some hustle.
Plymouth batters battled back in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs with two outs.

Nate Wottring led off the frame with hard grounder to third and Elliott moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Howe scored Wottring with a stand-up double to right — his first of four RBI for the day — and was scored on a single into left by Badell. Next up, Easterday cranked a two-run homer into left-center to break the game open 4-3. Cornett followed with a solo shot in the sixth, and Post 27 took the win 5-3.

“With two outs they didn’t quit, they just went up there and worked on getting base hits,” said Briles. “Easterday had a nice shot over the left-center wall there that kind of gave us a little bit of a spark. They just don’t quit, and that’s the name of the game.”

Also in game one, Michael Fansler completed six innings on the mound for Plymouth, giving up just four hits and two walks for two earned runs in the win. Solis took over in the final frame, striking out two of three Osceola batters to seal the outcome.

Post 27 moves to 10-2 on the season, while Post 308 stands at 12-4 with Sunday’s split. Plymouth will play another doubleheader tonight as it hosts South Bend Post 50 at 6 p.m. at Bill Nixon Field.
• PLYMOUTH 5, OSCEOLA 3
At Plymouth
(Game one)
Osceola: 010 110 0 — 3 4 3
Plymouth: 000 041 x — 5 11 2
Casey Bernhart (L) and Max Andresen; Michael Fansler, Joel Solis (7, W) and Mo Weddington
2B: Andresen, Damon Howe (P)
HR: Brent Easterday (P), Steve Cornett
• OSCEOLA 13, PLYMOUTH 12
Osceola: 202 700 2 — 13 11 5
Plymouth: 000 551 1 — 12 14 3
Marc Bowers (L), Dustin Kreft (4), Jay Badell (6) and Cody Bucher; Nate Wood, Chris Gearhart (4), Andrew Whitlow (5, W), Matt Price and Kyle Moody
2B: Kyle Schneider (O), Gary Downey (O), Easterday
3B: Brandon Elliott (P)
HR: Andreson, Gearhart
Records: Plymouth Post 27 10-2, Osceola Post 308 12-4