WINDSOR – It was a short post-season

Very short.

Wilson Post-13 ended the senior American Legion baseball season for local Windsor Post-37 Sunday night with a 4-0 Wilson shutout.

This followed by less than a day a Saturday afternoon Wilson win, 6-4, at Bertie High School field that put Windsor in a hole.

Due to last week’s rainouts, and many teams unable to make up games with the deadline for the state playoffs looming, North Carolina American Legion baseball declared all eight teams in Area-I East eligible for the post-season.

Windsor entered the best-of-three series as the number-four seed and faced five-seed Wilson in the first round. All three games had to be completed in three days.

The winner of the first playoff game held the edge because if game-three were rained out, or even if there was a split after the first two games, the game-one winner would then advance to the second round.

Saturday afternoon both teams took to the field in Windsor.  After a scoreless first inning, Wilson scored a pair in the top of the second to lead it, 2-0.

Windsor came back and seized the lead in their half of the frame. Brandon Marsh walked and went to third on an errant pickoff move.  Ryan Lilley then singled up the middle to plate Marsh and halve the Wilson lead to 2-1. After a pair of fly-outs Matt Wisniewski beat out an infield single. Lilley, running on the play, rounded second and went to third when the ball was bobbled. Austin Lee then walked to load the bases and when Will Gurganus singled into the gap in right center field, Lilley and Wisniewski scored to give Windsor a 3-2 lead.

Wilson tied it with a run in the third before Windsor went back in front in the bottom of the third. Caleb Sherman was hit by a pitch, stole second, and later scored on Patrick Castelloe’s two-out base hit to make it 4-3, Windsor.

But that was the last time a Post-37 player would cross the plate.

Wilson got two runs in the top of the fourth to re-take the lead and then added an insurance run in the sixth.

Windsor got two on with no one out in the bottom of the seventh, but the lead runner was picked off, followed by a fly out and a strike out. Post-37 never got past first base the rest of the game.

Counting the Sunday shutout, Windsor went its last fourteen innings without scoring a run.

Wisniewski and Lilley were both two-for-three while Gurganus was one-for-four and drove in a pair of runs.  Lilley and Castelloe had the other Windsor RBI’s.

Austin Lee started and absorbed the loss, giving up five runs on four hits while striking out four.  Christian Sledge got the win for Wilson as Braxton Lamm picked up the save.

Windsor finished the regular season at 7-7.

“We improved to .500 in just two years time,” said assistant coach, Nathan Dilday. “If we keep progressing we could be a team to watch for come next year.”