Greensboro Post 53 Red Wings American Legion Baseball Update

Final from Monday night:
Rowan County 6, Greensboro Red Wings 5…(11 Innings)
Red Wings dropped an extra inning thriller against Rowan. They will look to bounce back tonight at home.(Eastern Guilford High School)

Greensboro Red Wings Report from their Sunday May 19 game:
Post 53 Captured Lead Early in Opening Day Victory

Sunday night’s 6-3 non-divisional victory against Eastern Randolph marked the beginning of the summer season for Post 53. If the game is any indication of how the season will go, fans and players should be in for an enjoyable summer.

The offense got going early for the Red Wings as they capitalized on some early mistakes by Eastern Randolph. Alden Kolessar reached on an error and advanced to third on a hit batter and a wild pitch before Clay Dilday brought him in with a sacrifice fly. Cam Edmonds scored on a passed ball and Jonathan Todd scored on a ground out by Adam Weber. Todd led off the third inning with a single and with two outs, Justin Brady singled to bring him in for the fourth run of the game.

The biggest hit of the day came in the fourth inning. After Luke Brown led the inning off getting hit by a pitch, Cody Donnell roped a line drive into the left-center gap for an RBI triple. Donnell then scored the sixth and final run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Kolessar.

Matt Stanley started on the mound for Post 53. His command wasn’t great, but Stanley’s velocity and timely pitching allowed him to escape several jams. Through four innings, the only run he had given up came via a sacrifice fly in the second inning. He began the fifth inning with back-to-back hit batters, one of which scored on a throwing error. After walking the next batter, Brandon Leonard entered the game and finished the inning with two fielders’ choices and a ground out although one runner Stanley had allowed scored as well to make the score 6-3.

Over three innings of relief, Leonard was not charged with a run as he struck out one and did not allow a hit or a walk. Stanley was credited with the win as Leonard recorded a nine-out save.

On the day, the Red Wings only had five hits over 24 at-bats, but they were also issued seven free passes via walks and hit by pitches, pushing the team on-base percentage to a respectable 0.364.

Legion baseball is less about dominant offense than it is about taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes and that’s exactly what the Red Wings did on Sunday. Their next contest will come at home on Monday night against Area III powerhouse Rowan County. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

Notable Performances: Matt Stanley (4.0+ IP, W, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 3 HBP), Brandon Leonard (3.0 IP, SV, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO), Cody Donnell (2-3, 3B, RBI, R), Justin Brady (2-3, RBI)