Former Lee-Davis player Brandon Angus came into the American Legion baseball season sporting a little rust. Because he took a post-graduate year at FUMA, Angus went a long time without playing the game.

  On Sunday, the offensive layoff showed through for Angus as he started with a 0-3 mark at the plate against Post 184-P. “At the beginning of the game I didn’t feel like I was doing so hot,” Angus said. 

  But in the bottom of the eighth, Angus made up for the missed efforts with the first grand slam of his baseball career to give Post 175 a walk-off 11-1 victory over Post 184-P.

  “That last at bat I was just like, ‘I need to get a hit somewhere’,” he said. “I just took off, spread out a little bit and put the ball in play, it just so happened I hit a home run, actually a walk-off grand slam.”

  With an 11-1 win, Mechanicsville maintained an unblemished 3-0 record going into the third week of the American Legion season. However, appearances can be deceiving. After two weeks of play nearly half of Post 175’s games have suffered rain outs, which means the already tough schedule will get even more difficult as the season progresses.

  Mechanicsville is slated to play five games this week and seven over a nine day period with the possibility of rescheduled rainouts being thrown in on the open dates.

  “We’ll find out what we’re made of in the next couple of weeks because we’ll play about 10 or 11 games in about 13 days,” said Post 175 head coach Eddie Gates.

  To add to the difficulties, this is Beach Week which means Gates will have to work short-handed. On Sunday, Gates was missing eight of the nineteen players currently on the roster.

  “It will be a test to see how much pitching we have,” said Jordan Boze. “We’re going to need a lot of pitching. We’re going to have to have guys come back and pitch multiple innings. If it’s this hot still we might be exhausted.”

  With only three games played heading into the third week of the season, the players are still getting to know one another while many opponents have already gelled. In comparison, Post 184-P was playing in its seventh game on Sunday.

  Playing in Mechanicsville’s favor is the fact that the players on hand are not lacking in talent and the equally short-handed Post 184-P squad was out-matched from the onset, offering little challenge after the initial innings.

  On the mound, Boze turned in a dominating eight strikeout, five hit, complete game effort, while keeping himself under 83 pitches on the day.

  “Jordan looked extremely good,” Gates said. “He pitched extremely well today.”

  “I pitched a lot of fastballs,” Boze said. “I think I ended up throwing 10 curveballs the whole day. I felt good all week.”

  Post 175 also got a huge defensive boost from the outstanding sacrifice-your-body play of Conner Hall at third. “He’s a brute,” Gates said. “You tell him to play back he doesn’t want to. He wants to stay up, take a ball off the chest, body, wherever.”

  Boze only lapse of the day came on a seventh inning outside fastball that he pulled a little bit, allowing 184-P’s Tyler Burnette to send it out of the park for his team’s only run of the contest.

  On the mound, Burnette was no match for the Mechanicsville bats and Post 175 was only limited by their own running miscues. On the day the team was picked off four times in an attempt to steal second.

  “We need to look at the situations, who’s come to bat, play a little smarter in that aspect,” Gates said. “If there was one downfall it was the missing of signals and getting caught stealing at second.”

  In the bottom of the first, Mechanicsville put three runners on base, two were caught on steals and the third on a force-out at second.

  Post 175 got on the board in the bottom of the second when Boze led off with a single to right, Conner Hall was walked and Travis Tyree singled to center, loading the bases.

  A sacrifice to left from Jack Edwards brought home Boze and followed by the same from Patrick Holler to plate Hall for a 2-0 lead.

  Mechanicsville added two more in the bottom of the fourth when a double down the third base line from Daniel Burroughs drove in Hall and Edwards.

  Angus reached via walk in the fifth, stole second then third on a wild throw. A walk of Will Connerley put runners at the corners and a double to left center by Boze drove them both home for a 6-0 lead.

  With 184-P reliever Brendan Schnell on the mound in the eighth, Edwards reached on an error, then Holler and Burroughs singled to load the bases. A single by Michael Thomas drove in Edwards and brought Angus to the plate.

  Thomas then made a prediction. “When Michael Thomas got on first base he said, ‘Brandon’s going to hit a grand slam here and we’ll end it early’,” Gates said.

  Angus proved his correct.

Post 284P 000 000 10 — 1 5 1
Post 175 020 220 05 — 11 11 2
Burnette, Schnell (7) and Anderson; Boze and Tyree. L — Burnette.
Highlights: Tyler Burnette (284P) 2 for 3, HR; Brandon Angus (175) 1 for 4, GS; Jordan Boze (175) 2 for 4, 2B, 2 RBIs, 8 K’s; Daniel Burroughs (175) 3 for 4, 2B, 2 RBIs.
Records: Colonial Heights Post 284P 2-5; Mechanicsville Post 175 3-0