ELLISVILLE, Mo. - The under-15 Alton Post 126 American Legion baseball team won the GMB AAA National Championship on Sunday as Reid Murray limited the St. Louis Bears Dalton under-15 side to two hits while striking out 13 and both Reese Bohlen and Logan Hickman had two RBIs each in defeating the Bears 7-2 in the final at Ellisville, Mo., in west St. Louis County.
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The junior Legionnaires swept through the tournament with four straight wins and give them plenty of momentum as Alton goes into the postseason tournaments starting this week.
Post 126 took the lead in the bottom of the third by scoring three runs, then added on two more in the fourth to go up 5-0. Both sides scored two runs each in the sixth to give the junior Legionnaires their 7-2 championship win as Alton had six hits in the game and took advantage of 10 walks by Bears pitching.
Joe Stephan had two hits for Alton, while both Jacob Flowers, Dane Godar and Dagen Cordes all had a hit and RBI each, Jack Puent had a hit and both Bohlen and Hickman had a pair of RBIs. Murray pitched 5.2 innings to get the win, allowing two runs on two hits, walking three and fanning 13. Stephan came in to pitch the final 1.1 innings, striking out two to preserve the win.
The junior Legionnaires are scheduled to play at the Piasa Southwestern High summer team Monday evening at 5:30 p.m. and also start postseason play with the District 22 tournament, set for Monday through Wednesday. The winner moves on to the Illinois Fifth Division tournament in Valmeyer this coming weekend, July 14-16, with the winner moving on to the Illinois state tournament in Wheaton July 20-23. The state champion will represent Illinois in the Great Lakes regional in Valparaiso, Ind.. July 27-31.
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