Published: July 23, 2008 05:08 pm      

American Legion Post 38 baseball begins district tourney today

Somerset — The American Legion Post 38 squad is gearing up for Legion district play that opens on Thursday at Edmonton. This year the district is comprised of 3 teams, Somerset, Danville and host Edmonton. Two teams will advance to the state tourney in Bowling Green at WKU next Thursday, July 31.

The 38ers will play Danville on Thursday at 5:00 and the winner will play Edmonton on Friday. The district play will be a double-elimination tourney with play continuing thru Saturday.

The 38 squad will take their 18-15 record into the district after playing a very competitive schedule this past summer. The 38ers played the likes of National Champion, Columbia Post 19 of Columbia, TN and Terre Haute Post 346 of Indiana, the 2006 national runner-up. The Post 38 team played in Legion tournaments such as Evansville, Gallatin, TN and Columbia, TN. The 38ers compiled a record of 10-10 against Legion teams and a 8-5 record against non-Legion teams.

The Post 38 squad will send either Corey Price or Jordy Molen to the mound against Danville. Price has a 6-3 record with Molen at 2-1 and Dean Sumpter at 5-4. Second baseman Tyler Mayer leads the offense with a .446 batting average and a .523 on-base-pct. Right fielder Brett Blankenship is hitting .392 and a team-leading 24 RBIs and 19 walks.

Shortstop Erik Manning is hitting .385 with a .518 OBP. Price leads the team with 3 HRs and a .571 slugging pct. Center fielder Jeremy Toohey leads the team with 10 stolen bases and is hitting .349. Adam Wallen leads the team with 9 doubles and has 20 RBIs with a .313 batting average. Catcher Chase Hall has scored 23 runs with 15 walks. Aaron Hampton, Otie Manning, Bryson McFall, Storm Wilson and Jarred Price round out the 38ers roster.

"We are ready and we can't wait to get our shot at playing in the state," said 38ers coach Marty Mayer. "Our schedule has prepared us for about anything and we feel we can handle anyone. There are some pretty good baseball players on this team from our 19 year olds to our 15 year olds."

This past weekend the 38ers ran into a buzz saw as Columbia downed the 38ers 18-3 and Terre Haute squeaked past the 38ers 6-5 in 9 innings at the Evansville tourney. The 38ers fell to Bedford 11-5 and Evansville 11-8. Mayer was 9-for-15 in the tourney with 5 hits against Terre Haute and had six straight hits in six at bats. Erik Manning was 7-for-11 with 5 RBIs and 3 doubles. Sumpter pitched 9 strong innings against Terre Haute.

"We played some very good teams in Evansville and we were down a couple of players, so all in all we did Ok," said Post 38 coach Mayer. "Our ten guys busted their butts in some hot weather but we came up short."