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Brilliant swept, eliminated from possible championship bid

WEIRTON — Brilliant Post 573 went into Saturday with hopes of playing in the championship round of the 31st annual Edgar Martin Beast of the East tournament, but those hopes were dashed with a doubleheader loss at Edwin J. Bowman Field.

Post 573, which has been scoring a lot of runs of late, scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to pull within one but couldn’t get the tying run home in a tough 6-5 loss to the TCT Kings of Pittsburgh, which were 0-4 in the tournament going into the game.

Then, Brilliant got only one hit off of Drake McNinch, as his Triple Crown Royals of Columbus won 13-0 in a mercy-rule, five-inning game. McNinch came within one out of recording a no-hitter, but Brilliant’s Cody Albaugh beat out a swinging bunt past the first base side of the pitching mound to spoil the no-hit bid.

“I don’t want these games to take away from the fact that these kids have had a fantastic run in this tournament,” Brilliant coach Mickey Nest said. “These losses knocked us out of the chance to play in the championship round Sunday. We’re disappointed with these losses, but overall I am pleased with how well we have done in this tournament. I won’t let one game ruin it.”

A big lefty, McNinch is a baseball recruit at Ashland University and will be a freshman there in the fall.

“He had a great high school season and has been doing it all summer,” said Todd Fallon, Triple Crown Royal coach. “We really put the bat on the ball in this game, and that is something we’ve been doing all season. We probably average scoring about 10 or 11 runs a game. These kids are very disciplined hitters, so it make is very nice to coach them.”

The win gave the Columbus team a 4-1 tournament record with one game left to play.

Post 573 was led by the top of the order, as Mason Goddard singled and tripled, Dasyn Hores rapped two singles and a double and Anthony Coggins and Fred Hertler each singled twice. Shayne Christian had a pinch-hit single that drove home two runs in the sixth inning. Owen Long, Cody Albaugh, Gino Barber and Bobby Roth each had a hit.

Dalton Watt took the loss in the first game, and Christian was the loser in the second game.

Nest’s club now has an 8-5 record for the season with a consolation game Sunday in the Beast of the East and a date on Tuesday with Jefferson County Post 33.

Game 1

TCT Kings 6, Brilliant 5

Brilliant 0-0-1 0-1-2 1 — 5-9-0

TCT Kings 2-0-2 0-2-0 x — 6-8-1

BRILLIANT: Watt (CG, lp, 3K, 3BB, 5ER) and Roth.

TCT: Cummens (CG, wp, 7K, 1WBB, 2ER) and Santacroce.

TWO OR MORE HITS: TCT (Ford 2); Brilliant (Goddard 2, Hores 3, Coggins 2, Hertler 2). DOUBLES: TCT 1 (Ford); Brilliant 1 (Hores). TRIPLES: TCT none; Brilliant 1 (Goddard). HOME RUNS: none.

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