Legion baseball: And down the stretch they come

Through Sunday’s games, the five teams were within two games of each other with Laurel, which has never reached the postseason, leading the way with a 16-8 record following Sunday’s 10-7, 10-inning win over Damascus (14-10) at Damascus Regional Park.

After squandering a 5-1 lead against Damascus, Post 60 scored three runs on two doubles and a wild pitch in the top of the 10th inning against Austin Bernardo to pull out the victory and give it a clean regular-season sweep of Post 171, including scores of 6-3 July 1 and 10-9 June 18.

‘‘This is the sweetest group of guys I’ve ever had,” said Laurel coach Doc Drewery, whose team is loaded with college-age players among his 17-man roster. ‘‘It’s an amazing group. [Sunday’s win] was huge [but] you can’t talk about records. There are too many good teams. [Making the playoffs] might not be in our hands.”

171 looks to regain form

Post 171 (19-13 overall) looked early on like it would be the team to beat, quickly jumping out of the gate with seven wins in its first nine league games, including victories over Post 104 and Post 295, but Damascus had compiled a 7-8 record in league play since that time, including a crucial three-game losing streak to end June and start July as it fell 5-3 to Post 295, 19-9 to Cissel Saxon and 6-3 to Laurel.

Post 171 had numerous chances to win Sunday as well, as it placed runners in scoring position in the fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings but failed to score each time.

So what’s happened?

‘‘It’s a lot of things,” said Bernardo, who 4 for 4 with two walks and two runs Sunday. ‘‘People come up with sore arms and people go in slumps at the wrong time. We have our chances a lot to do what needs to be done but we don’t do it. That’s been our biggest problem [but] I think we’ll be fine.”

‘‘People aren’t stepping up,” Damascus pitcher⁄outfielder Brian Moran said. ‘‘We’ve lost a lot of one-run games in the last inning. People have to learn how to put teams away.”

Post 295 on a roll

While Damascus is trying to regain its early-season form, Post 295, the four-time defending county champions, appears to be hitting its stride, despite a couple of hiccups last weekend.

Before falling 7-5 to Rockville Post 86 Friday and 17-6 to Post 104 Saturday night, Post 295 had captured seven straight league games and 11 of 12 contests overall, including going 4-1 at the Blue-Gold tournament in Utica, N.Y. In that tournament — Post 295 lost 7-6 in eight innings to the Syracuse Chiefs — Matt Civetti (2 home runs, 10 RBI), John Brauch (.571 BA, 4 RBI), and Kyle Ehret (6 RBI) led the way.

After falling Friday and Saturday, Post 295 swept a doubleheader with St. Mary’s Post 255 and Bethesda Post 105 to begin this week with a 14-9 record.

‘‘We have games with Laurel and Damascus this week so we’ll see where we stand,” Post 295 manager Rick Price said. ‘‘At this point, we just need to win games. We have five games left.”

Post 295 won the season series with Laurel but lost its season series against both Post 104 and Cissel Saxon with its upcoming game with Damascus set to decide that three-game set.

This year’s squad is paced by Brauch (.407, 12 RBI), Civetti (.316, 4 home runs, 24 RBI), Ehret (.313, 24 RBI), Peter Marratto (.391, 11 RBI), and Kevin Johnson (16 RBI, 4 home runs) at the plate, while Kyle Judson (3-0, save, 1.86 ERA) and Charlie Cononie (4-2, 3.31 ERA) have led the pitching staff.

Fewer potholes for 104

While Post 295 boasts perhaps the division’s hottest team, Post 104 has the easiest road to the playoffs at least in terms of games to be played. With three games remaining heading into Tuesday’s clash with Post 171, Post 104 manager Joe Stolz can maximize his pitching without having to worry about saving arms for games later in the week.

That can only be an advantage for Post 104, which sports a deep staff that’s led by Gazette Player of the Year Kevin Brady (2-2, 1.95 ERA, 53 strikeouts) and Bobby Kim (3-2, save), who has also been on fire at the plate, entering this week with a .404 batting average with six home runs and 24 runs batted in.

‘‘We’re all bunched up,” Stolz said. ‘‘What hurt us was we lost twice to Bethesda and we shouldn’t have lost to Rockville. We’re going to have to win all three games to be at least in the top four.”

Post 41 hopes for streak

After taking a hiatus last year when the program was unable to find a manger, Cissel Saxon (13-9) was locked in a tie for the fourth and final spot with Damascus behind the play of Danny Martinez, Taylor Schallhorn, Drew Bergeris, R.J. Hackley and Ryan Rehman.

Post 41 has been streaky at times this season, including following a four-game losing streak with a four-game winning streak, and it concludes the season with five games in six days, including meetings with Post 104 and Laurel.

‘‘I think if we come out hitting, we have a chance,” Cissel Saxon manager Scott Dunlap said. ‘‘Our pitching and defense have come through for us most of the season but like I told the kids, you can’t win if you don’t hit. Teams are too good.”