Three-way tiebreaker goes Henderson Post 40’s way despite loss to Michigan.
Midland (Mich.) Post 165 got the run they needed to pick up their first win of The American Legion World Series.
But the team they beat Sunday, Henderson (Nev.) Post 40, will be the one moving on.
Midland beat Henderson 1-0 in Game 10 at Keeter Stadium, forcing a three-way tie between those teams and Shrewsbury (Mass.) Post 397. Each finished pool play with 1-2 records.
But Henderson won the run-allowed tiebreaker to finish second to Stripes Division champion Omaha (Neb.) Post 1 and advance to Monday’s semifinals. Henderson will face the winner of the Stars Division in Game 13 at 3 p.m.
With all three teams losing to Omaha, those results were thrown out to determine the tiebreaker. Each team finished with a combined zero-run differential in those head-to-head games, and Nevada had a combined run average allowed of 0.07 after giving up just one run in 14 innings. Had Midland won by two runs, they would have advanced; Shrewsbury needed Midland to win by one run but to score three or more runs against Henderson (55-9).
On Sunday, Midland scored the game’s only run in the top of the second, when Logan LaCourse’s sacrifice fly scored Martin Money. Midland (40-5) had just one hit, Gabe Denton’s double to lead off the fourth, off Ryne Nelson. Henderson’s starting pitcher went all seven innings but took the loss. He struck out two and walked six.
Logan Buczkowski earned the win for Midland, giving up four hits in seven innings, striking out five while walking six.
- Baseball