Beloit Legion Pounds Kentucky Champion
Beloit Legion opened the American Legion Great Lakes Regional with a dominant 8-0 over Kentucky state champion Shelbyville on Wednesday afternoon.
Beloit advanced to the winner’s bracket with the victory, which is becoming a familiar position for Wisconsin teams in recent years.
Both club’s pitchers performed well through the first five innings. Neither team was able to score a run until the sixth, when Beloit broke the game open.
A two RBI double by Austin Grover broke the scoreless tie in the frame, but the run scoring didn’t stop there. Jake McClellan, Kyle Hamilton and Kevin Raisbeck all added RBI singles in the inning. When the barrage finally ended, Beloit had tallied six hits and took a 6-0 lead.
Beloit added two more runs in the eighth inning. Some sloppy defense and pitching by Shelbyville allowed Drew Freitag and McClellan to score.
Shelbyville couldn’t manage any significant offense against Beloit pitcher CJ Grahn. He tossed a complete game shutout to earn the victory. He allowed seven hits and struck out four.
McClellan, Raisbeck and Freitag all had two hits for Beloit. Grover led the team with two RBIs.
Beloit (30-7) will play either Ohio champion Pickerington or host team Metro East (Illinois) on Thursday night at approximately 7 p.m.
