American Legion: Post 167 takes down T-Town

The Harrisburg American Legion baseball team is keeping to its theme.

Over the weekend, Post 167 won the 24th District Tournament, in its first season after a 10-year layoff.

On Monday, Harrisburg did something else they haven't done in a long time - beat Teutopolis on the diamond.

Harrisburg head coach Doug Emery called the win a feat in itself, knowing the long-standing problems Harrisburg has had beating T-Town.

"I just talked to them and no one in this group has ever beat Teutopolis, so it's a feat in its own. Teutopolis has one of the best baseball programs in the state, but we do too. It's nice to beat a good, quality team and they (Teutopolis) could very easily be back in the championship game."

Behind a solid outing from Matthew Phipps and more than efficient offense in the early going, Harrisburg advanced past Teutopolis 7-5 at the 5th Division American Legion Tournament at Carmi.

Phipps went the distance - nine innings which is what the tournament format is from here on out - as the soon-to-be Olney Central Community College recruit gave up eight hits as he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Phipps struck out seven and walked two as Bryce Emery faced one batter to earn the save.

"Matthew just got ahead in the count and pitched well," Emery said. "He's been throwing good the last couple of weeks and there is a reason why he is our ace. We rode him all the way today and the kids played great defensively behind him. Proud of the way he was able to hang in there and get the win."

Post 167 pounded out 17 hits on the day as Britton Riden, Patrick Bittle and Drew Woolcott all tacked on three hits and helped pad the middle of the batting order. Woodcut finished with a team-high three RBI, while Bittle had one.

Noah Vallette, Austin Hefner, Emery and Phipps all had two hits, while Vallette had two RBI and Hefner had one.

Post 167 cashed in two runs in the top of the second inning when Woolocott's two RBI double scored Vallette and Riden. Harrisburg then made it 4-0 in the third when Bittle's single into right field scored Emery and Woolcott's single to right scored Phipps.

That score stood until the sixth when Hefner singled down the third base line and advanced to third on Emery's bunt single. After Phipps' fly out, Vallette smoked a single to score Hefner and Emery.

The last run for Post 167 came in the seventh when Bittle led the inning off with a single and later scored on a base knock by Hefner.

"We hit the ball hard and got on base," Emery said. "We got a real fast team and have some kids that can run. That makes a difference, whether it's getting down the line or getting from first to third, that's a huge attribute we use to score runs and we have four or five kids that can really run."

Down but not out, Teutopolis rallied in the bottom of the ninth and with one out, rattled off a string of four straight base hits, followed by a two-out bases-clearing double that sent Phipps out and Emery in for the save.

Emery is well aware of the grind that his team is about to embark on. After calling Teutopolis one of the best programs in the state, the Post 167 head coach gets a crack at "one of the other better baseball programs" Edwardsville today (Tuesday) at 11:30 a.m.

"We didn't get a good draw," Emery said. "We have to come back and play - again - one of the better baseball programs in the state in Edwardsville. We just have to be ready to go and if we can continue to play like we have been, we'll be in good shape."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.