American Legion Post 98AA Baseball, Coached by JT Scarpelli, won the Zone 4 Tournament last weekend in Mt. Pleasant and now advances to the American Legion State Tournament at Northwood University next week.

Post 98 opened on Thursday with a 3-2 loss in 8 innings versus Linwood 239. Central Montcalm's Emmett Lingeman racked up 10Ks and only allowed 2 hits and 1 earned run in 5.0IP while Big Rapids' Karsen Rehkopf followed up with 2.1IP, 1 hit, 2Ks, and an unearned run in relief. Big Rapids' Jon Losinski knocked 2 hits while Evart's Lucas Johnson blasted a double.

The loss sent Big Rapids to the losers bracket where they played Mt. Pleasant Post 110, who had lost to Bay City Post 18 earlier that day, 15-10. Big Rapids took that game 7-6 to get back into contention. Reed City's Caleb Somers went 2/2 with a double, RBI, and 2 walks. Cadillac's Coby Franklin also had 2 hits and an RBI. Ty Gielczyk got the win going 3.2IP giving up 4 hits, 3 earned runs, and striking out 3. Evart's Aidan Anderson came in relief logging 3.1IP while surrendering only 1 earned run on 2 hits.

Moving to Friday, Bay City knocked off Linwood 3-2. There was controversy at the conclusion of the game when it was revealed that Bay City's lefty pitcher Owen Yens had thrown 112 pitches, exceeding the single day limit of 105. After a 20 minute delay to ensure proper enforcement of the American Legion rules, Bay City ended the game throwing out a runner trying to advance to second on a single.

To determine the championship matchup versus the now undefeated Bay City, Big Rapids and Linwood went at it again Friday evening at 6pm at Mount Pleasant High School. Coach Scarpelli's squad came out swinging, tallying 13 hits in the game to win 10-6. Somers went 4/5 with another double and 2 RBI while Gielczyk, Losinski, Franklin, and Johnson all had 2 hits a piece. Gielczyk included a big 2 RBI single. He had 4 RBI in the game. Newaygo's Russell Toth chucked 6 solid innings allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs. Coby Franklin closed out the game by throwing out Linwood's Bryant trying to steal third with 2 outs in the 7th while down 4 runs. Bryant is the same player thrown out to end the Bay City game for Linwood.

Saturday's Finals matchup with Bay City turned into a slugfest ending 11-10, Big Rapids. 21 combined runs were scored on 16 hits including a homerun, triple, and 4 doubles. Evart's Aidan Anderson went 2/3 with a double, triple, and 2 RBI. Karsen Rehkopf helped his own cause knocking in 2 runs while Lucas Johnson walked the game off in the 8th with an RBI single down the first base line. Rehkopf threw 5 innings for Big Rapids giving up 4 hits, 3 earned runs, and striking out 6.

The win marks Post 98's 1st Zone Championship as well as first trip to the State Tournament.

Scarpelli noted "We talked about how this is tournament baseball now. Anything can happen so everything we dealt with over the summer is gone. Go out there and leave it all on the field. Make things happen and have fun. These guys did that and took home the trophy. On to the State Tournament!'

Post 98 takes on the Escanaba Cubs to open the State Tournament next Thursday at 9:00am at Northwood University.

Follow Post 98 on Gamechanger at Post98AA Ducks 18U