SEDALIA, Mo. - The Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Senior team has been strong at the plate all summer.
The local club proved that again Thursday.
Post 5 had 18 hits and Trevor Schnieders allowed one run in six innings en route to a 11-2 win against the Lee's Summit Outlaws in the opening round of the Senior State Tournament.
"Whenever you get to this stage, you need production and quality at-bats from guys one through nine," Post 5 coach Dane Hughes said. "When everybody in the lineup does that, it sure makes it helpful and relieves some of the pressure from the guys in the middle of the lineup."
Cole Distler, Hayden Strobel and Cody Stegemann all had three hits and drove in two runs, while Todd Buschjost added two hits and two RBI to lead Post 5 at the plate.
Schnieders allowed four hits and struck out four to pick up the win for Post 5, which improved to 21-8 this season.
"He really battled for us today," Hughes said. "He'd probably be the first to tell you that he didn't have his best stuff, but he competed, kept working for us and kept us in the game."
Post 5 plated two runs in the first and added a run in the fifth to take a three-run lead, but Lee's Summit cut its deficit to one with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Post 5 responded in a big way, scoring seven runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to put the game away.
"We were able to get to their bullpen and we were able to string some hits together," Hughes said. "It was really good to respond after they put up a two-spot in the seventh. We were able to answer it."
Buschjost surrendered a run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Logan Vogel struck out two and didn't allow a hit in 1 2/3 innings.
"Obviously it's huge to stay in the winner's bracket in these tournaments," Hughes said. "We've lost Trevor with his innings, but the other two guys that threw out of the pen will be able to bounce back and be able to throw (Friday), so we're sitting as good as we could have hoped with our pitching at this point."
Schnieders and Austin Sachse had two hits and drove in two runs, while Dylan Brauner and Beard added RBI singles. Vogel chipped in with an RBI to help pace Post 5 on the offensive end.
Corey Beard will get the start today against Festus Post 253 (21-10), which claimed a 9-2 win against the Joplin Miners (27-3-2) on Thursday night.
"We don't know anything about (either team), so were just going to go out with the mindset of, "Take care of the things we can control and play Post 5 baseball and see where it take us,'" Hughes said.