Elgin Post 57 stays hot

Scorching is the only way to describe it.

The Elgin Post 57 offense — which averaged 10.5 runs per game last week in winning the American Legion District 11 baseball tournament — stayed red hot in Tuesday afternoon’s oppressive heat by jumping to a 9-1 lead over Fulton Post 402 and held on for an eventual 11-8 victory in the opening game of the Division 2 Tournament in Lena, Ill.

The victory advances Elgin Post 57 to a semifinal in the double-elimination tournament against an opponent to be determined on Thursday at 2 p.m. Elgin moved within two victories of gaining a berth in next week’s American Legion state finals in Galesburg.

“They’re on a roll,” Post 57 general manager and acting manager Bob Todd said of his hitters following a win that elevated the team’s record to 24-9-1. “Not many teams can hit as good as us.”

In fact, few hitters have belted the ball this summer like Sam Klein. The recent Burlington Central graduate went 4-for-5 against Fulton to raise his team-best batting average to .448 (47-for-105). He finished the high school season with a .472 batting average (50-for-106).

Klein, a North Central College-bound pitcher/shortstop/center fielder, not only tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run, he broke the contest open with a grand slam in the third inning. It was the key blow in a 6-run outburst that staked Elgin to a 9-1 lead.

Klein also doubled and finished the afternoon with 6 RBI.

St. Edward’s Luke Duffy, who has gained interest from multiple Ivy League baseball programs, according to Todd, controlled Fulton for most of the game. In the longest outing of his career, Duffy (4-1) allowed 8 hits and 5 earned runs in 8⅔ innings.

Todd summoned reliever Joey Lange to close things out, and the Burlington Central closer induced a flyball to end the game.

Elgin Post 57 has its top two pitchers — Klein (5-1) and Hampshire graduate Ryan Burke (3-2) — available for the semifinals on Thursday.

“Our pitching has been solid,” Todd said. “As long as our defense doesn’t make (avoidable) mistakes, we can compete with anybody.”

Second baseman Drew Stover went 2-for-5 and made a key diving catch in the eighth inning that led to a double play. Hampshire’s Danny Grzywa tripled and drove in 2 runs.