INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 Juniors suffered half their losses this season to Sedalia Post 642. Their luck changed when the stakes were the highest Tuesday night.
Jefferson City, which had lost 4-of-5 games to Sedalia, won in walk-off fashion to beat Post 642 by a score of 2-1 in its first game of the state tournament at Crysler Stadium.
Josef Kielholz reached base to lead off the bottom of the seventh and Gage Bax and Parker Bax each drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Jackson Voss reached on an infield single, which scored Kielholz from third to give Post 5 the win.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth, when Gavin Bernskoetter had an RBI single to give Jefferson City a 1-0 lead.
Sedalia was down to its final out in the top of the seventh, but Post 642 collected three consecutive singles off Gage Bax to tie the score at 1.
Gage Bax earned the win in a complete-game effort. He had a one-hitter entering the seventh inning and allowed three walks while striking out two.
Voss and Dakota Kemna each had two hits to lead Post 5.
The Post 5 Juniors (24-8) will face Ste. Genevieve Post 150 at 5:30 p.m. today in the semifinals of the double-elimination tournament.