Leading 10-8 going into the top of the ninth, the home-standing American Legion Post 175 baseball team only needed three outs to walk away with a win over neighboring rival Ashland Post 206. But closing the door on the suddenly hot-hitting Ashland team proved to be a difficult task when their first two batters reached base and the meat of the 206 lineup due to come to the plate.

  With hard-hitting lefty Kyle Stanley representing the possible game winning run for Ashland, Mechanicsville Coach Eddie Gates was left with little choice but bring Nick Frame to the mound, even though Frame was at the time playing centerfield and had not warmed up.

  “Kyle Stanley was coming up to bat and I knew I had to go left-hander against left-hander,” Gates said. “You’ve got to play the odds there.”

  When he came to the mound Frame said he was a little daunted by the task facing him. “They were hitting the ball well tonight,” he said. “They put up eight runs and they’re a good hitting team. I was worried when I came in, but luckily I have Will (Connerley) behind the plate calling good pitches.”

  Frame also said he faced a mental battle knowing that Stanley had belted two home runs in the team’s previous meeting. To make matters worse, following Stanley were Taylor Sandefur, Derrick Brewer and Chris Beazley who were all capable of putting the winning run out of the park. “The thought comes in mind but I try to think past it,” Frame said. “I try to think positive, hope good things happen and luckily tonight it did.”

  Frame got Stanley to fly out to center. Next up, Sandefur popped up a shot that dropped in short right to load the bases adding more pressure to Frame. But the former Lee-Davis player did not waver, striking out Brewer and Beazley to end the game and pick up the win.

  “Nick has really come around with his pitching,” Gates said. 

  “That was clutch,” said 175 first baseman Jordan Walton. “Nick coming in, first and second with no outs, I knew he could get the job done because he did in the last game, come in and shut them down. It’s just a matter of how he’s going to do it. We all have confidence in him. That was very impressive.” 

  But Frame not only got it done from the mound but at the plate as well going 4-for-5 with a double and RBI. “Just seeing the ball,” he said. “Taylor (Sandefur) was coming in with a fastball and following with a changeup. I waited back on it and luckily found the spots to hit some.”

  “With his swing, the way he puts the ball in play and can run, you never know,” Gates said. “He almost beat out the one that he got caught on.”

  As has been an irritating trend for Post 175, they quickly found themselves in a hole that required a comeback. Aaron Adkins threw a solid first inning, notching a pair of strikeouts while giving up a walk and a single. But in the second inning the 206 bats came alive. Beazley led things off for Ashland with a single to left and a sacrifice bunt from Jack Saladino advanced Beazley to second. When Brian Collins punched a single-shot to right, Beazley scored.

  Adkins then walked Tyler Wilkinson and a single up the middle by D.J. Martinez (2-for-4, double, 3 RBI) drove in Collins. A gapper from George Moore (3-for-5) loaded the bags. When Stanley dropped a blooper in the infield Wilkinson made the Ashland lead 3-0.

  “We were kind of little bit dead,” Gates said. “I knew we would start scoring some runs but I like jumping on a team first.”

  It was the pitching of Sandefur that kept the Mechanicsville bats off balance from the mound. Sandefur notched three K’s in the first before slipping slightly in the bottom of the second.

  With one out, 175’s Connerley tripled on a shot to deep right then scored when Brian Johansen took Sandefur’s first pitch and sent it to deep right for a double.

  Mechanicsville trimmed the lead further when Chase Worthington (3-for-4, RBI) scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third to bring 175 within one, 3-2.

  On defense, Adkins bounced back from his second inning let down to keep Ashland off the board and record two more strikeouts over the next three innings.

  In the bottom of the fourth it was 175’s turn to explode on offense. Frame led off with a single to short left and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Josh Perks. Jordan Walton (4-for-5, HR) singled to center on a 3-2 pitch and a Worthington single to left on a hit and run sent Frame home to tie the game.

  With two out, Mechanicsville took the lead when they executed another perfect hit and run when Sam Hartness (2-for-3, 2 RBI) singled to right and Walton scored. Worthington then made the 175 lead 5-3 off a wild pitch.

  Post 175 pushed the margin to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth when Frame doubled to the fence in center to drive in Johansen.

  With no outs and two on, Ashland coach Mike Berry brought Will Jennings to the mound, but the 175 bats did not quiet. A perfectly executed bunt from Walton loaded the bags. Worthington then picked up an RBI with a sacrifice punch shot to second that drove in Frame.

  A walk of Adkins re-loaded the bases and a walk of Hartness pushed Perks in for an 8-3 lead. Walton later scored on wild pitch to make the margin 9-3.

  In the top of the sixth, Mechanicsville brought in Justin Thorn as a reliever and it appeared that the young Ashland team might be on the verge of throwing in the towel. But with two outs and Brewer on third and Collins on first, Reid Berry lifted 206’s confidence when held the batter’s box for nearly five minutes swatting away Thorn pitches to pick up a walk and load the bases. Next up, Martinez doubled down the left line to plate Brewer and Collins and pull 206 within four, 9-5.

  In the bottom of the seventh, Walton added what appeared to be a luxury run when he led off with shot that was gone from contact and touched down somewhere deep behind the right field wall.

  “It was a changeup, a little bit high, he kind of hung it for me,” Walton said. “They’d been throwing off to me all day but I kept hoping that fastball would come but it never came. I saw that changeup coming and my eyes lit up.”

  It appeared 175 would add to their lead when Worthington next reached on a single to short right, but a self-admitted coaching mistake by Gates caused the inning to unravel. “I gave one boy and bunt and the other boy didn’t see it,” Gates said. “So I went through the signals again and I gave the boy on first a steal.”

  Worthington was left hanging between bags and easily tagged out. “That was my fault,” Gates said. “I made the blunder that time. Even the coaches make mistakes…sometimes.”

  But in the top of the eighth, Ashland continued to cut into the lead. With two out, Brewer reached via walk and Beazley singled. Brewer then scored on a wild pitch to make the margin 10-6.

  Saladino was then walked and a double to the left fence by Collins drove in Beazley and Saladino to bring Ashland within two, 10-8 and set up the final inning heroics from Frame.

  “If we keep hitting the ball like we’re doing and we keep getting the pitching we’re getting, I think we’re going to be tough to beat,” Frame said.

  On Saturday, Post 175 beat Post 284B 13-7 to move to 11-4 on the season.

Post 206 ........ 030 000 230— 8 14 1
Post 175 ........ 011 340 10x— 10 15 0
Sandefor, Will Jennings (5), Stanley (6) and Saladino; Adkins, Thorn (6), Marshall (9), Frame (9) and Connerly. W: Adkins. L: Sandefor
Highlights: D.J. Martinez (206) 2 for 4, double, 3 RBI; George Moore (206) 3 for 5; Nick Frame (175) 4 for 5, double, RBI; Jordan Walton (175) 4 for 5, HR, RBI; Chase Worthington (175) 3 for 4, RBI; Sam Hartness (175) 2 for 3, 2 RBI

Post 284B…... 113 002 000— 7 13 4
Post 175 ........ 003 010 90x— 13 15 0
Bierlien, Worley (7), Driscoll (8) and
Montgomery; Hartness, Brooks (8) and
Keeler. W: Hartness. L: Bierlien
Highlights: Ryan Montgomery (284B)
4 for 5, 3 runs; Matt Gwaltney (284B) 4
for 4, run, 3 RBI; Nathan Chamberlain
(284B) 2 for 3, run; Josh Brooks (175) 3
for 5; Jordan Walton (175) 2 for 4, double, HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI; Chase Worthington
(175) 2 for 4, double, run 2 RBI; Mitch
Keeler (175) 2 for 5, run, 2 RBI; Brian Johanson (175) 2 for 4, RBI; Bo Flinchum (175) 1 for 2, run, RBI
Records: Colonial Heights 284B 10-3;
Mechanicsville Post 175 11-4