TERRE HAUTE —
The numbers were concentrated among a small number of players Thursday afternoon, but they were big numbers nonetheless as Wayne Newton Post 346 opened its own Terre Haute Invitational for American Legion baseball with a 13-3 win over Lafayette Post 11.
Just five Post 346 hitters had hits, but Scott West and Dalton Sexton had four each. Just five players from the home team crossed the plate, but Sexton and Kodie Girton scored four times each and Pete Lannoo three times. Just three players drove in runs, but West had six RBIs. And Damon Olds struck out 12 in the six-inning game that got the host team off on the right foot.
An artistic masterpiece? Hardly. Each team made three errors, and Lafayette pitchers dug their own graves with nine walks in the first four innings.
“But it was a win,” Post 346 manager John Hayes summarized, and what he hoped was another step forward for the newest edition of his traditionally strong team. “We’re still learning each other,” he continued, “and [the players] are still learning us [coaches].”
Post 346 took the lead to stay in the bottom of the first inning without hitting the ball hard. Girton drew a leadoff walk, stole second, went to third on a ground out and scored when Cody Thornton’s grounder was booted. Thornton then stole second himself, scoring from there on a bloop single by Tony Rosselli.
The bottom of the Terre Haute batting order was hard to retire all game, starting with the bottom of the second inning when Lannoo led off with a walk and Sexton singled. Girton moved the runners up with a sacrifice, and West lofted a deep fly to left field that started an unfavorable pattern from the visitors’ perspective. The outfielder turned the wrong way twice and was still staggering when the ball fell a few yards away from him, bouncing over the fence for a two-run ground-rule double.
Lafayette cut the four-run deficit in half and threatened to make a game of it as Olds had his only shaky inning in the top of the third. Evan Tislow singled, stole second and scored on two wild pitches, and a second run scored on two walks, a hit batsman and a run-scoring single by Jake Rytlewski.
With two out and none on in the bottom of the third, however, the home team rallied. Lannoo and Sexton had back-to-back singles, Girton walked, and West tortured the same outfielder, this time driving the ball over and past him to the left-center gap for a three-run double.
“He was playing up at first,” West said of the Lafayette player, who never did master the sun and high sky at Patriot Field. “Then he stayed back [which allowed several balls to fall in front of him — or be dropped — later in the game].”
Lafayette’s Lorenzo Domonden reached on an error to start the fourth inning and scored on a two-out single by Thomas Fisher. But Olds struck out two batters that inning, pitched around Tanner Hieatt’s leadoff double in the fifth, and recorded his final four outs of the game on strikes.
“Damon Olds did a nice job,” Hayes noted afterward. “He had one shaky inning, but he just needs to get more innings and more confidence.”
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, walks to Daniel Marlow and Lannoo and Sexton’s third hit started a four-run rally. One run scored on a wild pitch, another when West blooped the ball in front of his favorite outfielder, a third on Connor Pierce’s sacrifice fly and the fourth when another Thornton grounder was misplayed.
“It’s always good to get the first win [of a tournament],” West said, “get that out of the way and worry about the next team … and make sure we’re playing Sunday [in the championship game].”
In the sixth the game ended early with a two-run rally started by Sexton’s fourth hit and including a dropped fly ball, infield hits by West and Thornton, another sacrifice fly by Pierce and another missed fly ball that resulted in a fielder’s choice but allowed Girton to score for the 10-run lead.
Sexton, a college student who’s the only member of the Terre Haute team who didn’t have a school team to play for in the spring, showed he was back in a hitting groove Thursday with line shots to center, right and left before getting a fourth hit on a sun-aided blooper.
“It felt great to get out here and square up a few balls,” he said afterward. “It’s great to get out here and compete, be lucky enough to get out on the field.”
Possibly slated for a super-utility role on this summer’s team, Sexton wasn’t quite as successful defensively, chasing a few pitches to the screen when Olds was wild low. “I’ll try to help the team win and block as much as I can,” he added. “There was not much time to work out [on baseball skills] in the offseason.”
“He’ll catch some, he’ll throw some in relief … he’s anxious to play, and that’s good,” Hayes said of Sexton.
“You can’t let go of baseball, that’s for sure,” Sexton concluded.
Post 346 13, Lafayette 3
Lafayette ab r h bi Post 346 ab r h bi
Tislow cf 3 1 1 0 Girton lf 1 4 0 0
Russell rf-p 2 1 0 0 West ss 5 0 4 6
Fisher c 3 0 1 1 Pierce dh 1 0 0 2
Rudman 1b 3 0 0 0 Olds p 0 0 0 0
Hieatt p-2b 3 0 1 0 Thornton cf 4 1 1 0
Cebulla ss-rf 2 0 1 0 Rosselli rf 5 0 2 2
Rytlewski 3b 3 0 1 1 Wolf 1b 3 0 0 0
Emerson lf 3 0 0 0 Marlow 2b 3 1 0 0
Dmndn 2b-p-ss 3 1 0 0 Lannoo 3b 2 3 1 0
Sexton c 4 4 4 0
Totals 25 3 5 2 Totals 28 13 12 10
Lafayette Post 11 002 100 — 3
W.Newton Post 346 223 402 — 13
Two outs when game ended.
E — Rytlewski 2, Rosselli, Lannoo, Sexton, Emerson. LOB — Lafayette 9, WN 10. 2B — West 2, Hieatt. SB — Girton, Thornton, Tislow 2. SH — Girton. SF — Pierce 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Lafayette Post 11
Hieatt (L) 22⁄3 7 7 5 6 1
Domonden 2⁄3 1 4 3 3 1
Russell 21⁄3 4 2 0 0 0
Wayne Newton Post 346
Olds (W, 2-1) 6 5 3 2 3 12
WP — Olds 2, Domonden. PB — Sexton. HBP — by Olds (Russell), by Olds (Cebulla). T — 2:05.
Next — Wayne Newton Post 346 (7-2) played Plymouth Post 27 in Thursday’s late game. Lafayette Post 11 (0-7) plays Evansville Pate Post 265 at 6 p.m. today.
Terre Haute Invitational
Thursday
Post 346 13, Lafayette 3
Evansville Pate 10, Bristol 3
Post 346 vs. Plymouth, (n)
Today
Bristol vs. Plymouth, 3:30 p.m.
Evansville vs. Lafayette, 6 p.m.
Bristol vs. Post 346, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday
Lafayette vs. Plymouth, 11 a.m.
Evansville vs. Plymouth, 1:30 p.m.
Bristol vs. Lafayette, 4 p.m.
Evansville vs. Post 346, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday
Third-place game, noon
Championship game, 2:30 p.m.
Sports
Wayne Newton rolls in opener of Terre Haute Invitational
- Sports
-
IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, stands in his team pit box as he waits for the start of the final practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
-
Top guns, again
For the sixth time in his Indy career Friday, three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves won the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
-
Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
-
Freshman Hambrock, THS seek semistate tennis title
Having already claimed Terre Haute North Sectional and Greencastle Regional championships in girls high school tennis, Terre Haute South will try to add a semistate title to its 2013 list of accomplishments today as the Braves battle No. 25-ranked Greenwood.
-
Coach adds regional host to job description
John Hayes has been a familiar face at high school baseball games this spring as he always is, enjoying the games but also looking for players who can help his Wayne Newton Post 346 American Legion team that will start its summer season shortly.
-
Prep roundup: South Vermillion reaches baseball sectional final
South Vermillion built an early 7-0 lead late Thursday night, then held off Owen Valley by a 10-4 score to advance to the championship game of the Class 3A West Vigo Sectional for high school baseball.
-
Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
-
Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
-
West Vigo advances to sectional championship with walk-off win in ninth
High school baseball sectional games between West Vigo and Edgewood have had a tendency to be unpredictable over the years, but the Vikings and Mustangs outdid themselves in that area Thursday evening — and Thursday night.
-
Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
BOYS TRACK REGIONAL: North gets three winners, South two at Evansville
Terre Haute North had three winners, Terre Haute South two, and the Patriots and Braves finished second and third respectively at the Evansville Regional for boys track on Thursday at Evansville Central.
Hurdlers Cam Stewart and Cole Seward and discus thrower Lee Davis were the winners for North, enabling the Patriots to finish with 60 points to 59 for the Braves.
-
Top guns, again
- Local Interest
-
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman's Evans honored as Great Lakes' top athlete
Rose-Hulman senior Liz Evans earned her fifth career NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year honor, according to results released Wednesday by the U.S. Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association.
-
Terry enjoys strong year with Wildcats, and still enjoying suiting up to play
South Vermillion’s Tim Terry is the longest tenured coach in Wabash Valley high school baseball as his Wildcats are set to begin sectional play Thursday against Owen Valley.
But on the Yankees, a 35-and-over team in the Terre Haute Men’s Senior Baseball League, Terry is “just a youngster” if you ask Larry Roesch, his 68-year-old teammate on the Volkers Group Yankees. -
Softball sectionals up for grabs
All three Vigo County high schools and Northview appear to have a realistic chance of winning sectional championships in softball this week.
-
Indiana State baseball series canceled
Heavy rain from Thursday through Saturday has forced Indiana State and Tennessee Martin to cancel their three-game weekend baseball series in northwest Tennessee.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman baseball to play DePauw on Thursday after Tuesday's rain
The Rose-Hulman baseball team has rescheduled its non-conference game with DePauw to Thursday night.
The start time remains 7 p.m. for the single nine-inning game that was originally scheduled for today. Tuesday’s scheduled Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at Anderson was moved to Sunday because of rain.
-
METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman's Evans honored as Great Lakes' top athlete
- High School
-
-
Freshman Hambrock, THS seek semistate tennis title
Having already claimed Terre Haute North Sectional and Greencastle Regional championships in girls high school tennis, Terre Haute South will try to add a semistate title to its 2013 list of accomplishments today as the Braves battle No. 25-ranked Greenwood.
- Prep roundup: South Vermillion reaches baseball sectional final
- West Vigo advances to sectional championship with walk-off win in ninth
- BOYS TRACK REGIONAL: North gets three winners, South two at Evansville
- PREP ROUNDUP: Martinsville adavances in Class 4A THS Sectional
-
- College
-
-
Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
-
Metro Sports: Chalk up No. 5 for Liz Evans
Senior Liz Evans capped the top career in Rose-Hulman athletics history with her fifth national championship and eighth All-American award at Wisconsin-La Crosse on Friday.
-
Four Indiana State athletes advance to NCAA outdoor track and field championships
Three Indiana State seniors and a freshman have punched their tickets to the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two weeks at Eugene, Ore., with their Friday efforts in the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
-
Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch
Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent. -
Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.
-
Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
- Sports Columns
-
-
RAMBLIN' RECK: Sunday promises to be big day in Indy
Sunday promises to be a super day in Indianapolis.
It’s the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 followed by Indiana vs. Miami in the third game of the National Basketball Association playoffs. - TRACKSIDE: Local drivers, owners looking to have strong night at Tony Hulman Classic
- Shooters compete to fight cancer
- TILL IT'S OVER: Terre Haute Triathlon's new race director seeks more events for his hometown
- TODD GOLDEN: Don't give up on ISU baseball just yet
-
RAMBLIN' RECK: Sunday promises to be big day in Indy
- Pro Sports
-
-
Luck having fun with his first OTAs
A year ago, quarterback Andrew Luck was unable to attend the Indianapolis Colts’ organized team activity practices due to school commitments at Stanford.
Luck, though, went on to have a stellar year for the Colts despite the lack of summer work with the team. Still, in a sense, he is a rookie during this year’s OTA workouts.
“These are my first OTAs. I missed these last year, so I think it’s great. It’s great to get on the field with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff. Obviously, some of us ran some of this stuff [offense] at Stanford [under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton]. But to get out there with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff is good,” Luck said Wednesday as the team wrapped up its first week of on-field voluntary practice sessions. - Colts hoping for more high marks on draft picks
- Colts in wait-and-see mode for tonight’s NFL draft
- Colts sign Matt Hasselbeck to back up Luck
- Colts introduce free-agent signees
-
Luck having fun with his first OTAs
- Terre Haute Rex
-
Consultation: Rex manager Brian Dorsett talks with his pitcher and players during a time-out Sunday, July 15, at Sycamore Field. (Tribune-Star file/Bob Poynter)
-
2012 an up, down season for Rex
The Terre Haute Rex went through plenty of trials and tribulations during the summer of 2012.
The team got off to a sluggish start to settle for third place during the first half of the Prospect League race, but manager Brian Dorsett rallied the troops to a second-half title. - Metro Roundup: Dorsett, Rex players honored in Prospect League postseason awards
- Rex out of playoffs
- Rex mix, match their way to win
- Rex turn eye to Prospect playoffs
-
2012 an up, down season for Rex
- Colts
-
-
Luck having fun with his first OTAs
A year ago, quarterback Andrew Luck was unable to attend the Indianapolis Colts’ organized team activity practices due to school commitments at Stanford.
Luck, though, went on to have a stellar year for the Colts despite the lack of summer work with the team. Still, in a sense, he is a rookie during this year’s OTA workouts.
“These are my first OTAs. I missed these last year, so I think it’s great. It’s great to get on the field with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff. Obviously, some of us ran some of this stuff [offense] at Stanford [under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton]. But to get out there with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff is good,” Luck said Wednesday as the team wrapped up its first week of on-field voluntary practice sessions. - Colts' coordinators enjoying getting rookies acclimated
- Werner, 36 others open Colts’ mini camp
- Colts hoping for more high marks on draft picks
- Werner at top of game
-
Luck having fun with his first OTAs
- Auto Racing
-
IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, stands in his team pit box as he waits for the start of the final practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
-
Top guns, again
For the sixth time in his Indy career Friday, three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves won the Pit Stop Challenge on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
- Looking for Indy breakthrough, Kanaan enjoying role as team mentor
- TRACKSIDE: Local drivers, owners looking to have strong night at Tony Hulman Classic
- Carpenter arrives as Indy 500 threat
- Carpenter wins Indy 500 pole
-
Top guns, again





