It’s only by bad luck that Hudson Post 100 faced the last two national champions in its first two games this week at the American Legion World Series.
Matchups of regional champions long ago were set up for pool play, and the Northeast champ just happened to paired with the Southeast winner (Post 70 of Troy, Alabama) the first day and with the West champ (Post 55 4 of League City, Texas) the second.
Northeast champion Hudson hung in with League City, the defending Series champion which rode another stellar pitching performance from Tyler Ryden and scored its first three runs with two out in a 4-2 win at Keeter Stadium in Selby, North Carolina.
Post 100, which dropped to 0-2 in Stars Division play, lost Thursday, 9-1, to Troy, the 2022 Legion World Series champion. League City improved to 2-0 in the Stars.
Hudson remained mathematically alive to reach Sunday’s semifinals, after Fargo (North Dakota) outlasted Troy, 5-4, in 14 innings in the nightcap, leaving Troy and Fargo at 1-1 in the Stars.
Hudson may have picked up momentum in the late innings entering Saturday’s final pool game against Fargo, which starts at noon. After Texas ace Ryden left the game after four innings, Post 100 hit up League City reliever Braden Castle for two runs to draw within 3-2.
Dan DeMirjian and Peter Ward scored on Ryan Dillon’s one-out single in the fifth, which started with DeMirjian’s double down the right field line. The production sure was needed after Ryden hurled one-hit ball with six strikeouts on 57 pitches.
Brewer, however, led off the fifth with a two-out home run off Hudson starter Teddy McFarland for an insurance run.
Dillon rapped his second single of the game with two out in the seventh. DeMirjian’s double gave him two for the tournament and three hits for the series.
League City, which carried a 27-3 record into the World Series, is a 17-time Texas state champion but was the first from the Lone Star State last year to actually capture a national championship, finishing 27-4.
McFarland had a victory in six innings pitched during the Northeast Regionals, striking out three with no walks. He hurled five innings Friday, allowing four runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Ryan Graf relieved him to start the sixth.
Hudson (29-10) had difficulty against Ryden, who was 2-0 in the Western Regionals in 12 innings, yielding just three hits and striking out 25 without allowing a earned run. Ryden was the regional MVP after hurling a two-hitter with 13 Ks in a 7-1 win in the final over Wellsville, Utah.
And Ryden picked up where he left off in the regionals, striking out Marshall Kehlhem, Bobby Long and Chase Barrett, all swinging, to start the game. Fortunately, McFarland’s first also went 1-2-3, the righty inducing a groundout and two popouts while needing just six pitches.
Ward lashed Hudson’s first hit through the left side with two out in the second, yet Ryden still had four strikeouts through two innings.
McFarland retired the first two batters in the second before walking Scott Martinez, who promptly stole second base. Matthew Novominsky then singled on a 3-2 pitch to center, delivering Martinez for a 1-0 League City lead.
Kehlhem, the leadoff speedster who has scored 40 runs this summer, walked with two out in the third for Hudson but was thrown out stealing to end the inning, for only the third time in 49 attempts this season.
McFarland’s composure helped keep Hudson in the game early. He committed a throwing error in the third on a pickoff attempt at first but escaped the jam by serving a groundout, stranding the runner at third.
League City struck for two runs in the fourth after McFarland retired the first two batters. Martinez doubled to right-center, Novominsky walked, and the runners were wild pitched to second and third. Austin Rawls’ single to right scored both.
