GREENVILLE – The Greenville American Legion Post 140 18U baseball team defeated the visiting Troy Post 43 Legends 12-0 in a run-rule win following a 2024 trip to the American Legion State Tournament.
“We’re excited to play for Greenville American Legion Post 140,” said Post 140 veteran coach Chad Henry. “Last year, the Legion did a lot for us. They stepped up, and they cemented Greenville as our home. We were proud to represent them at state.”
“We had a lot of boys doing a lot of good things, good kids playing away at college,” Henry added. “It’s a great situation. The kids come in here; they could pay a lot of money to play travel ball, or they can come here and pay a reasonable price, still getting the same level of competition. That’s what American Legion is here.”
Greenville American Legion Post 140, under the direction of Coach Henry, breezed through the American Legion Regional tournament with a 5-0 shutout over Troy American Legion Post 43 to earn the 2024 Regional Championship Title and punch their ticket to the state tournament.
Post 140 went undefeated in 2024 regional play, defeating Troy 7-1 in the opening round, knocking off Sidney Post 217 by a 3-2 score, and downing Troy Post 43 by a 5-0 count in the championship game and advancing to the 2024 State American Legion tournament.
Greenville posted four runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning, with all four runs coming with two outs to lead 4-0 and never looked back in shutting out Troy Post 43.
“They show up to the ballpark, they get the job done,” Henry noted. “They come out to do things the right way.”
A Troy error and a walk to Sam DeLand set up a 2-out 2-run single off the bat of Brodie Hart. An Isaac Kerg walk, and back-to-back Carson Bergman and Owen Mendenhall singles accounting for the four-run Post 140 opening inning lead.
Both teams went down in order in the second before Post 140 plated 3-runs in the bottom of the third to lead 7-0 with three innings in the book. Greenville runs were the result of a Troy error, a Braeden Wills walk, a Brodie Hart single, a Kerg RBI single, and a 2-run Carson Bergman single to left.
Greenville Post 140 put the game away in the bottom of the fourth with 5 runs to lead 12-0. Layne Hocker led off the inning with a walk, a DeLand single, an error resulting in a run, and a passed ball, an Ian Bergman run scoring ground out, a walk to Wills, an RBI Kerg double, an RBI C. Bergman single, and a run scoring single off the bat of Mendenhall giving Greenville a commanding 12-0 advantage with Troy coming to the plate in the top of the fifth.
“We only got two games in last week,” Coach Henry said. “We’re still missing five guys playing in the state tournament. We have a slightly limited crew tonight, but I’m pleased with my team this year. We went a long way last year. We added the right pieces. A lot of the guys that came up were in the organization last year, played for the younger team.”
Ian Bergman kept Troy off the board in the top of the fifth, giving Greenville Post 140 the win with a minimum of four innings at the plate.
I. Bergman went the distance for Greenville Post 140 in earning the shutout win, allowing three hits, no walks, while striking out four. Bergman threw 68 pitches, 21 balls, and 47 strikes.
“Complete game, five innings, 68 pitches,” Coach Henry stated. “Ian was very efficient, he gets ahead, you always teach it, but you don’t always get guys to do it. I tell the guys it doesn’t matter how hard you throw ball four, and the best pitch in baseball is a strike one. When you get ahead, the odds go in your favor, now you’re in control, you can pitch the ball where you want, and they have to chase you, but if you’re always pitching from behind in the count, you get in a situation where it’s more hitter-friendly.”
Carson Bergman paced Greenville Post 140 at the plate, going 3-3 with 3 RBIs and a run. Kerg went 2-2, including a double, a walk, 2 RBIs, three runs; Hart was 2-3, 2 RBIs, one run; Mendenhall 2-3, 2 RBIs; DeLand 1-2 with a walk, two runs; Hocker a walk, two runs; Wills 2 walks, two runs; I. Bergman 1 RBI, one run.
“These kids understand the basics when they come to my level,” Henry said. “It doesn’t mean they’re exempt from being taught, but we are constantly working on that, and they are seeing the game from a different way.”
BOX SCORE
123 456 7 R H E
403 5XX X 12 10 2 Greenville American Legion Post 140
000 00X X 0 0 4 Troy American Legion Post 43
