Elgin American Legion team staves off elimination
The Elgin American Legion Post 57 baseball team stayed alive Friday at the Great Lakes Regional in downstate Alton.
Post 57, the Illinois state champion, turned a 3-2 lead into a 7-2 win over Troy (OH) Post 43 by scoring 4 runs in the top of the eighth inning.
Elgin (36-2-1) jumped on top 2-1 after the first inning and extended the lead to 3-1 in the third on a Kyle Hays home run. Dan Lenz (2-for-5) had driven in a run in the first and another scored on a bases-loaded walk to Austin Sayre.
Troy came back to score in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 3-2 game but Post 57 rallied for 4 runs in the top of the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Jared Kramer, Sayre and Brayden Royse each had RBI in the inning and Dan Lenz scored on a wild pitch.
Jon Lenz earned the complete-game win for Elgin, going 9 innings and allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run. He had 3 strikeouts and walked 6 batters.
Post 47 will play at 4 p.m. Saturday against an opponent to be determined.
The winner of the tournament advances to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, N.C.