08/18 - American Legion Baseball World Series Unofficial Baseball Notes - August 18, 2018

08/18 - American Legion Baseball World Series Unofficial Baseball Notes - August 18, 2018

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Observations -

(1) I understand how "pool play" helps make tournaments easy to organize, but old-style "double-elimination" seems (to me) to be far more exciting since every game is critical to a team's success or elimination. You can't "tank" a game when you are way behind or "walk-thru" the last pool game when you know you are "in" (or "out"!).

(2) I think pitch-counts are politically necessary - just like tackling rules in football - but while I applaud the overall intent (safety) they can really distort a game. Like "pool play" the overall strategy can be significantly altered. If I could make one tweak to the "105" pitch rule most commonly used, I'd allow the starting pitcher "120" pitches.

(7) Seven inning vs nine innings - A team in a five-game tournament of nine-inning games has upto 45 innings to pitch. Assuming 15 pitches an inning (on average) that is about 675 pitches. With a pitch-count limit of 105 a teams a LOT of pitching. Reducing games to seven innings drops the "average" down to 525 - a more manageable number for an "average" team. That said, a LOT of baseball can be played in the 8th and 9th inning!

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2018 American Legion Baseball World Series -

*Two 4-team pools (Stars, Stripes) play round-robin; top 2 from each pool play semi-final and championship games -

*Stars pool -

Midland/MI Berryhill Post 165 - 1-0 / 45-9

Las Vegas/NV Post 40 - 1-0 / 49-14

Randolph County/NC Post 45 - 0-1 / 29-18

Meridian/ID Post 113 - 0-1 / 38-17

*Stripes pool -

Gonzales/LA Post 81 - 2-0 / 35-4

Wilmington/DE Post 1 - 1-1 / 43-6

Dubuque County/IA Post 137 - 1-1 / 13-4

Braintree/MA Post 86 - 0-2 / 24-10

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American Legion Baseball main page - https://www.legion.org/baseball

*Team "previews" - https://www.legion.org/baseball/242868/closer-look-eight-teams-alws

American Legion Baseball World Series page - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

August 16 / Thursday -

+G1 - Wilmington/DE Post 1-3 (43-5), Dubuque County/IA Post 137-0 (12-4) -

+G2 - Gonzales/LA Post 81-1 (34-4), Braintree/MA Post 86-0 (24-9) -

+G3 - Midland/MI Berryhill Post 165-7 (45-9), Randolph County/NC Post 45-2 (29-18)

+G4 - Las Vegas/NV Post 40-10 (49-14), Meridian/ID Post 113-0 (38-17) - 5 innings

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August 17 / Friday - High School / college assignments are mine - may not be accurate!

*American Legion World Series (Shelby, NC) - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

+G5 - Gonzales/LA Post 81-5 (35-4), Wilmington/DE Post 1-4 (43-6) -

box - https://www.legion.org/uploads/baseball/2018/WS05.pdf

*Wilmington/1 (4-9-2); SP/nd-JT Tomovich (St Marks/18 - Delaware; 3-2/3ip, 3R/3er, 5H, 6BB, 4K, 3-HBP); 2nd/LP-Jack Dubecq (St Marks/18 - Delaware; 2-2/3ip, 2R/1er, 4H, 3BB, 1K); 2H (Austin Colmery-3 (St Marks/17)); 2RBI (Jacob Meisel ()); 3B (Colmery); 2B (Colmery; Marshall Awtry (Conrad/18 - Goldey-Beacom));

*Gonzales/81 (5-9-0); SP/nd (Dwain Guice (St Amant/18 - Southeatern Louisiana; 4-2/3ip, 2R/2er, 5H, 2BB, 6K, 1-HBP); 2nd-Chad Kennedy (East Ascension/18; 1-1/3ip, 0R, 1H, 2K); 3rd-Preston Thrash (East Ascension/18 - Baton Rouge CC; 1/3ip, 2R/2er, 2H, 1BB); 4th/WP-Austin Bankert (Dutchtown/18; 2/3ip, 0R, 1H); 2H (Brayden Caskey-3 (Dutchtown/19); Jack Merrifield (Dutchtown/18 - LSU-Eunice); Carson Dabadie (East Ascension/18)); 2RBI (Dabadie); GWRBI (Thrash - bunt single with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th));

*Jim's unofficial note: Gonzales Post 81 turned a double play in the first inning - with runner on 1st and 3rd (no outs) Wilmington Post 1 singled to right scoring the runner from 3rd; the batter advancing around 1st got caught in a run-down and was tagged out while the runner from 1st (who had reached 3rd) then tried to score during the run-down and was tagged out at home.

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+G6 - Dubuque County/IA Post 137-9 (13-4), Braintree/MA Post 86-1 (12-10) -

box - https://www.legion.org/uploads/baseball/2018/WS06.pdf

*Dubuque/137 (9-12-1); SP/WP-Sam Goodman (Western Dubuque/19 - Wichita State; 5-1/3ip, 1R/1er, 4H, 2BB, 5K); 2nd-TJ Deardorf (Dubuque Senior/17 - Coe College; 1-2/3ip, 0R, 0H, 1BB, 2K); 2H (Sam Link (Dubuque Senior/19 - Iowa); TJ Deardorf; Kyle Lehman (Western Dubuque/19); Jackson Bennett (Beckman/18 - Kirkwood CC); Joel Vaske (Beckman/18 - Kirkwood CC)); 2RBI (Wil Courtney (Dubuque Hempstead/18); Lehman); 2B (Link-2; Courtney; Lehman; Vaske);

*Braintree/86 (1-4-3); SP/LP-John Tellier (Braintree/19; 2ip, 2R/2er, 3H, 3BB, 1-HBP); 2nd-Jack Collins (Braintree/19; 3ip, 5R/1er, 3H, 2BB, 4K, 1-HBP); 3r-Aiden Carey (Boston College HS/20; 1-2/3ip, 2R/2er, 5H, 1BB, 1K); 4th-Matthew Tenney (Braintree/20; 1/3ip, 0R, 1H, 1K); 2H (Joseph Vanelli (Braintree/17));

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August 18 / Saturday - High School / college assignments are mine - may not be accurate!

*American Legion World Series (Shelby, NC) - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

+G7 - Midland/MI Berryhill Post 165 vs Las Vegas/NV Post 40 - 1pm ESPNU / ESPN3

+G8 - Meridian/ID Post 113 vs Randolph County/NC Post 45 - 4pm ESPNU / ESPN3

+G9 - Gonzales/LA Post 81 vs Dubuque County/IA Post 137 - 7:30pm ESPNU / ESPN3

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August 19 / Sunday - High School / college assignments are mine - may not be accurate!

*American Legion World Series (Shelby, NC) - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

+G10 - Braintree/MA Post 86 vs Wilmington/DE Post 1 - 1pm ESPNU / ESPN3

+G11 - Midland/MI Berryhill Post 165 vs Meridian/ID Post 113 - 4pm ESPNU / ESPN3

+G12 - Las Vegas/NV Post 40 vs Randolph County/NC Post 45 - 7:30pm ESPNU / ESPN3

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August 20 / Monday - High School / college assignments are mine - may not be accurate!

*American Legion World Series (Shelby, NC) - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

+G13 / semifinal - Winner Stars vs 2nd place Stripes - 4pm ESPNU / ESPN3

+G14 / semifinal - Winner Stripes vs 2nd place Stars - 7pm ESPNU / ESPN3

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August 21 / Tuesday - High School / college assignments are mine - may not be accurate!

*American Legion World Series (Shelby, NC) - https://americanlegion.sportngin.com/2018alws

+G15 / Championship - Winner G13 vs Winner G14 - 7pm ESPNU / ESPN3

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Some Media links -

Shelby, NC Star - http://www.shelbystar.com/sports (schedule / scores and game articles)

The American Legion - https://www.legion.org/baseball (recaps for games 1-4)

Midland Daily News (game article) - nothing new

Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/high-schools/2018/08/18/braintree-post-need-hits-and-some-luck/UM5dTBOYgcXmhouLbH0ldN/story.html

Baton Rouge Advocate - https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/high_schools/article_5fcdcb54-a23a-11e8-8ef9-93c30658f95f.html

KDTH / Raido Dubuque, IA - https://kdth.radiodubuque.com/dubuque-co-pounds-out-victory-at-alws/

(Dubuque Telegrah-Herald - subscription required)

North State Journal - nothing new

Asheboro, NC Courier-Tribune - nothing new

Las Vegas, NV Review Journal - nothing new

Delaware OnLine - https://www.delawareonline.com/story/sports/baseball/2018/08/17/delaware-champ-post-one-falls-5-4-american-legion-world-series/1024454002/

Charlotte Observer - https://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article216938545.html

Salisbury Post - https://www.salisburypost.com/2018/08/18/legion-baseball-updated-through-aug-17/

WDEL, Wilmington, DE - https://www.wdel.com/news/facebook/squeeze-stuns-delaware-post-one-face-must-win-sunday-at/article_3051d07a-a274-11e8-826d-e729d6cfcb4e.html

Idaho - ?

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