SHELBY, N.C. — The Beverly/Salem Post 331 baseball team was pushed to the very brink at the American Legion World Series, and in the end the magic simply ran out.
Monday afternoon, Beverly/Salem fell to defending World Series champion Post 56 out of Idaho Falls, Idaho by a score of 13-3 in the final pool play game of the tournament.
With the loss, Beverly/Salem is now eliminated from the American Legion World Series.
Brennan Frost led the way for Beverly/Salem on the offensive side, going 1-for-1 with a double and an RBI. Lee Pacheco (1-for-3) and Nick Fox (1-for-2) each had an RBI, while Tyler Petrosino (1-for-2) also had a hit.
Cooper Gavin took the loss on the mound for Beverly/Salem, tossing four innings and allowing seven runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Noah Guanci, Christian Morrissey and Eric DiPiero also saw time on the mound in relief.
Beverly/Salem got off to a bit of a slow start when the game began Sunday night, as Idaho Falls jumped out to a 1-0 lead behind an RBI single from Ayson Webb in the top of the first.
After two quick outs in the bottom of the first, Petrosino drew a walk to keep the inning alive. He went on to steal second base, then Pacheco legged out an infield single that brought home a run and tied the score. Next up was Frost, who smacked an RBI single to give Beverly/Salem a 2-1 lead.
That was as far as things got before the sky opened up and a nearly two-hour rain delay ensued before the game was suspended for the night.
When things picked up Monday morning, the momentum that Beverly/Salem had built up the night before never came back.
It started with an RBI double from Idaho Falls’ Ky Howell in the top of the third to tie the game at 2-2, then Post 56 exploded for five runs in the fourth inning to blow the game open at 7-2.
Things only got worse from there, as Idaho Falls tacked on three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to round out the scoring and take a commanding 13-2 lead.
Beverly/Salem fought until the very end, with Fox notching an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to make a comeback.
With the season now at an end for Post 331, the boys from Beverly/Salem can look back on a season that saw them win a Massachusetts state championship, a Northeast Region title and become the fifth-best American Legion baseball team in the entire country.
