WASHINGTON, Mo. - There will be a new Missouri American Legion AA state champion this summer.
The Jefferson City Post 5 Juniors, the defending state champs, ended their season Saturday with a 4-3 loss to Washington Post 218 in the championship game of the Zone 1 Tournament at Borgia High School.
The Post 5 Juniors finished with a 16-10 record.
Jefferson City scored all three runs in the top of the third inning.
Griffin Buschjost hit a one-out single and stole second base. After Drew Voss drew a two-out walk, Parker Bax singled to left field, scoring Buschjost to tie the game at 1.
Wyatt Luebbert, the next batter, then doubled to left field, scoring Zach Hagner - who was courtesy running for Voss - and Bax to give Post 5 a 3-1 lead.
Washington scored twice in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.
Post 218 took the lead in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Wil Heggemann, scoring Levi Weber to make the score 4-3.
Jefferson City, which missed out on a scoring opportunity on a close call in the fifth inning, had more chances in the sixth and seventh innings.
Post 5 had runners on second and third base in the sixth, but Washington pitcher Riley West got back-to-back groundouts to escape the jam.
In the seventh, Buschjost opened the inning with a single and made it to third base with one out. However, when Voss hit a ground ball to Washington shortstop Bryce Mayer, Buschjost was thrown out attempting to score the tying run.
The next batter, Bax, grounded out to second base to end the game.
Voss started on the mound for Post 5, pitching two-plus innings. He gave up three runs on two hits, but he walked four and struck out two.
Trent Morrow was credited with the loss in relief of Voss. Morrow threw four innings and gave up one run on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Luebbert led the Jefferson City offense with one single, one double and two RBI. Buschjost and Bax each had two singles.
Washington advances to the Missouri AA state tournament, which will be played in Warrensburg.