By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
GREENVILLE ó Mooresville’s run in the American Legion state tournament ended with a 10-5 loss to Shelby on Tuesday afternoon at East Carolina’s Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Post 66 (20-14) lost eight of its first 13 games, continued a hot streak by pulling out an exciting victory over High Point to reach the Area III finals and won its first two contests in Greenville.
Mooresville, one of the last four survivors at the state level, was held to two hits in a 5-2 loss against Rowan County and trailed 8-0 after six innings against Shelby (29-8).
“For these boys to get as far as they have with the few arms that we had and the injuries that we had, it was a great year,” Mooresville coach Josh Graham said. “There’s nothing else you can say.
“We didn’t play well today ó we made six errors and didn’t hit it until the seventh inning ó but they showed they belong. It’s been a fun ride, that’s for sure.”
Nathan Abraham went 4-for-5 and scored two runs to lead the Moors. Chase LeVan had two hits, including a double that drove in Abraham and Nick Lomascolo during a three-run seventh. Billy Nantz (2-for-5) followed with an RBI single. Dylan West scored on Josh Clark’s RBI groundout in the eighth.
Wes Dumford made his second start of the tournament for Mooresville, and only one of the seven runs he allowed in 42/3 innings was earned. He retired the first two hitters in the fifth, but an error two batters later prolonged the inning. Jacob Tisdale hit a two-run homer and Jonathan Henderson had a two-run single in the frame, which included two Post 66 miscues.
Seven of Mooresville’s 12 hits came in the last three innings.
“Baseball is a game of streaks,” Graham said. “We hit it good the first two games, and the last two games we didn’t hit it.”