Dane Hagler/Photo courtesy of Tom Hager
The Cando Post 79 baseball team took to the road in Jamestown last weekend for the 2024 Phil Brown Classic. For the second straight weekend, the Bearcats faced tougher competition in preparation for the upcoming sectional tournament.
It was a 1-2 performance for Cando. The Bearcats lost 12-5 to Carrington Post 25, then got walked off by Elmwood, 10-9, before beating Edgeley Post 146 by a score of 9-4.
Their tournament got started with a loss on Friday. Parker Simon, coming off a dominant outing, couldn’t contain the Carrington offense, which scored one run in the first inning and five in the second without Simon recording an out. The teams traded runs in the first, but by the end of the second inning, Cando trailed 6-1.
Simon had a strong game at the plate, though, going 3-for-3 with a double and a walk. The Bearcats battled back with one in the third and two in the fifth, trimming the deficit to 6-4. Free passes aided the Cando cause.
But Carrington widened the gap again with four runs in the sixth inning against Miles Weber. The Bearcats got one back in the bottom of the sixth, but Carrington responded once again with a two-run homer off Alec Peyerl. The offensive attack proved to be too much to overcome.
That brought the Bearcats to Saturday, when they played a back-and-forth barnburner that included five-spots for both teams and an Elmwood walk-off.
The typically dominant Dane Hagler didn’t have his best performance, though his overall line was a strange one. He allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings, but none of the runs were earned. He struck out four and walked three while allowing five hits.
Cando led 4-0 in the third inning, helped by a parade of walks and a two-run double from Garrett Westlind. Hagler struck out the first batter in the bottom of the third, but then three consecutive hitters reached on errors. A couple of two-out hits and a wild pitch granted the Giants the rest of their runs, sending them ahead, 5-4.
After a pair of two-out singles in the fourth, Elmwood scored another on another error. Cando committed six errors overall.
Yet, when it might have been easy to get discouraged, the Bearcats responded with a five-spot of their own in the fifth to soar back ahead, 9-6. Peyerl and Zach Jorde recorded hits, while the Bearcats also drew three consecutive walks.
Elmwood didn’t take long to tie it back up, though, with three runs in the same inning to make it 9-9. The Giants worked three straight walks of their own, with Karsen Simon on the mound, and all three runners scored on a two-out double.
It remained tied until an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh that sent Elmwood to victory. The roller coaster was over, despite a valiant battle, with a Cando loss.
The Bearcats were able to end the weekend with a win, though, beating Edgeley by a fairly commanding 9-4 margin. Eight of Cando’s runs came from four-spots in the fourth and fifth, sending it ahead 8-3 after initially trailing 2-0. The Bearcats took advantage of errors amidst the rally.
Hagler reached base three times with a hit and two walks, while K. Simon also recorded two hits and two RBIs. Additionally tallying multiple RBIs were Westlind and Hunter Hagler. On the mound, Jorde gave Cando a solid outing with three runs allowed in five innings. He struck out three, walked three and permitted five hits.
Now comes the final two weeks of games before the games start to really count. Cando has home games against Rugby and Harvey, respectively, on Wednesday and Thursday. The sectional tournament starts Monday, July 22. Cando gets to host the tournament, so the games will be played right on its home field.
