Burlington-Graham Post 63 comes up short, but Robertson(EG), Gunn(EG), Thornton(BW) and Sappelt(SA) do their part

In our on-going efforts to follow the local athletes/baseball players, after their high school season is complete and their summer season kicks in, today we again look at the Post 63 Legion team, with Adam Gunn and John Robertson from Eastern Guilford High School along with Eddie Sappelt(Southern Alamance) and Logan Thornton(Burlington Wiliams) on the squad……The Burlington Times-News is doing a super job of covering these games and here is the most recent installment that we have been able to come up with from the The Times-News of Burlington, N.C. and you can reach them any time on-line at www.thetimesnews.com…..

GRAHAM – For Burlington-Graham Post 63, the hole it found itself in against visiting Lexington-Davidson Post 8 was never too daunting. But it just waited too late to do anything about it.

Lexington-Davidson used an early power surge to grab control of Monday night’s Area III North Division game. Burlington-Graham had one of its own late, but it came up short in the 9-7 loss.

“We never feel out of it,” said Post 63 outfielder Eddie Sappelt(Southern Alamance), who racked up four hits. “We can come back from just about anything if we put our minds to it.”

Burlington-Graham staged an ill-fated rally in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a
three-run blast by catcher Logan Thornton(Burlington Williams).

“At this level of ball, a five-run lead is not a lot,” Post 63 manager Johnny
Slaughter said. “Two or three hits and you’re right back in it.”

Post 63 found itself in such a hole quickly. Lexington-Davidson’s Cody Atkins slammed a two-run home run in the top of the first. Atkins bashed another two-run homer an inning later.

Burlington-Graham (3-4, 2-2) got on the board in the bottom of the third when a
Sappelt single scored Elliott Fowler. John Robertson (Eastern Guilford) doubled, scoring Sappelt and Jack Metcalf, cutting the Lexington-Davidson edge to 4-3. In the top of the fourth, Lexington-Davidson catcher Zack Redmond hammered a three-run home run.

Two batters later, Kevin Goss notched a solo home run, putting Lexington-Davidson(5-1, 4-0) up 8-3 and ending the night for Burlington-Graham starter Treston Earley. While Lexington-Davidson grabbed control, Post 63 struggled, mustering two total hits in the fourth through seventh innings.

“We’ve had a couple games now where we’ve gotten to the middle of the game and we haven’t gotten a lot done offensively,” Slaughter said. “We just need to try and make sure we get batter and have good at bats and make things happen.”
Much of that was due to Lexington-Davidson starter Clark Beeker, who gave up seven hits, struck out eight and walked one in 8 1/3 innings of work.

“He was locating his pitches, keeping everybody off balance,” Thornton said. “He was throwing pitches we weren’t looking for. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re a pitcher.”

In the eighth, an Adam Gunn (Eastern Guilford) sacrifice fly drove in Sappelt. But Lexington-Davidson got a run back in the top of the ninth when Atkins singled home Goss.

But Post 63 wouldn’t go down quietly. After John David Slade and Evan Friddle reach on walks, Thornton smashed a fastball over the fence to cut the lead to two runs with one out.

“If you try to put the bat on the ball, see it deep and try to hit it, good things
happen,” Thornton said. “It was a fastball low in the zone and I went with it. I
kept my head down and hit it out of the ballpark.”

Lexington-Davidson reliever Kenneth Pope struck out Metcalf and got Sappelt to
ground out to end the game.