Prep Baseball Report

Midland Headed To American Legion World Series


Bruce Hefflinger
PBR Michigan Senior Writer

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Midland Headed To American Legion World Series

TOLEDO - A six-run sixth inning rallied Midland past Danville on Sunday, giving the Michigan state champions a second straight Great Lakes Regional title and with it a berth in the American Legion World Series.

Trailing 3-2 in a winner-take-all finale, Berryhill Post 165 tied the score in the top of the sixth before pushing across five two-out runs for an 8-3 lead en route to an 8-4 victory over Danville at Mercy Field.

Tyler David (Bay City Western, 2018) walked to lead off the sixth and Martin Money (Midland, 2018, 127th-rated) followed with a single. A Seth Gower (Bay City Western, 2018, 174th-rated) bunt single load the bases before a Brandon Smith (Saginaw Heritage, 2018, 23rd-rated) sacrifice fly evened the game at 3-3. Following a pop out, Adam Randall (Bay City Western, 2019, 6th-rated) put Midland on top to stay with an RBI single.

After a pitching change, Derek Beougher (Bullock Creek, 2020) walked on a 3-2 pitch to load bases before another free pass to Carson Cooley (Bay City Western, 2019) made it 5-3 Midland. Nick Dardas (Bay City Western, 2019, 24th-rated) pushed the advantage to 6-3 with a hit-by-pitch and Tyler Davis capped the uprising with a two-run single.

Jeff Allen (Clare, 2018) was the winning pitcher allowing one run in 4.1 innings out of the bullpen with Gower earning the save after two innings of one-hit shutout relief.

A second consecutive regional title win over Danville advances Midland to the World Series in Shelby, N.C. where the Michigan squad will play in the Stars Division of the eight-team field Aug. 16-21. Midland meets Randolph County, N.C. on Thursday at 4 p.m., in a matchup of the only teams back from the 2017 World Series. Midland’s second game will be against Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday at 1 p.m. with game three of pool play versus Meridan, Idaho on Sunday at 4 p.m.

A year ago, Midland went 1-2 at the World Series, the lone win coming over Henderson, Nev., which went on to capture the championship.

Braintree, Ma., Dubuque County Iowa, Gonzales, La., and Wilmington, Del. are in the Stripes Division of the World Series, which will conclude on Aug. 21. Games can be seen on ESPN3 or ESPNU.

In reaching the 92nd annual World Series, Midland had to overcome a 3-1 loss to Danville in Sunday’s first Great Lakes Regional game to force the second contest.

Prior to the final day of the tourney, Midland had cruised through the competition. Berryhill beat Eau Claire 4-0 in the first game behind a 3-hitter from Garrett Willis (Midland, 2018, 53rd-rated). A 13-3 victory over Sheboygan followed with Randall tossing a four-hitter, Logan LaCourse (Bay City Western, 2018, 73rd-rated) going 4-4 with two runs scored and Smith 2-2 with two walks and a pair of runs.

A 10-3 win in game three sent Danville into the losers’ bracket. Dardas was 3-4, Money 2-3 with three runs and Zach Nelson (Midland Dow, 2018) 2-3. Beougher allowed one earned run in six innings. Midland then advanced to the finals with a 5-2 triumph over Eau Claire. Gower threw two frames of no-hit relief and also went 2-4 at the plate.

Money finished 10-20 for the tournament to lead Midland, which moves on to the World Series with a 44-9 record. Danville, the Illinois state runners-up, closes at 37-8.