3 days ago
Morgantown Post 2 falls to Beckley Bash 5-4 to bow out of Legion State Tournament
MORGANTOWN – Morgantown Post 2 head coach Jacob Goodnight didn't think his team played a clean game on Friday night in an 11-4 defeat to Charleston Post 65.
That effort seemed to spill over slightly on Saturday as Post 2 fell to Beckley Bash Post 35, 5-4, in an elimination game under the sun.
With the defeat, Morgantown's summer comes to a close on Day Three of the 2025 American Legion Baseball State Tournament.
Both teams earned ten hits in the contest. The Bash was led by Ashton Cochran, who went 3 for 3 with an RBI. Mason Chaney also secured a three-hit game for Morgantown in four at-bats with two RBIs.
'It was a good game of baseball, but our errors came back to hurt us in the end,' Goodnight said. 'They made some errors also, but they got out of the jams when they needed to, and our mistakes seemed to carry over for a couple of batters, and they eventually got runs out of that. We put that three spot up but let them respond by doing the same thing, just a tough day for us today.'
Beckley took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning but Post 2 responded in the top of the third as Eli Boggs doubled home Brance McCune to tie the game. Kane Williams singled to put two men on for Morgantown, and Chaney delivered with a two-run single to give Post 2 a 3-1 lead.
But as Goodnight alluded to, Beckley punched back with a three-run inning of its own in the third to pull ahead again, 4-3.
Post 2 came up empty in the fourth, and that opened the door for the Bash to extend the lead, 5-3, on a fielder's choice in the infield.
Morgantown cut the lead in half on a single by Nate Wolfe that brought Williams around to score, but a double play ended the inning, and Post 2 would fail to find the equalizing run before it was too late.
'It took a while for us to bring it together this summer, but everyone got comfortable down the stretch and we won some games how we knew we could,' Goodnight said. 'We were a little bit tight this weekend in the tournament, but these guys let their talent show the last few weeks, and that's why we were able to be successful. We just asked them to play hard and keep showing up, that's all you can do.'
BOX SCORE
Beckley Bash (Post 35) 5, Morgantown (Post 2) 4
MRGN 003 010 0 – 4 10 2
BECK 103 100 X – 5 10 2
Morgantown Post 2 – McCune 3110 Boggs 4111 Williams 2210 Montague 4010 Chaney 4032 Wolfe 4031 Grabo 4000 Watson 3000 Jeffries 3000
2B: Boggs, Montague
Beckley Bash Post 35 – Meadows 4210 Sims 3120 Williams 4022 Cunningham 3100 Barnett 4111 Cohran 3031 Hunt 3010 Kesterson 2000 Kiblinger 3000
(W) Brown 6.1ip 9h 4er 3bb 7k
(L) Messerly 6.0ip 10h 5r(2er) 1bb 4k
