Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
A memorable run to an American Legion World Series win came to an end on Sunday, as the Hopewell Post 339 baseball team fell short of advancing to the next round after losing their first two games.
Though the team bested the Lewiston, Idaho ball club with a score of 7-5, its 7-4 loss against the Bryant, Arkansas team on Saturday and the 6-3 loss to the Randolph County, North Carolina team last Thursday effectively ended Hopewell’s chances of moving on to the semi-finals.
The New Jersey team was ultimately eliminated from contention thanks to tiebreakers.
“Certainly, we would have liked to have won it all, but there were some pretty good teams there,” Team Manager Mike Coryell said. “To keep in mind the big picture, I am pretty darn pleased with everything we accomplished this year.”
More than 3,600 baseball teams compete in American Legion Baseball every year, but only eight teams make it to the organization’s World Series.
This year’s pool of teams hailed from Massachusetts, North Carolina, Arkansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Idaho and Nevada.
This year’s Legion World Series berth marks the third time that a team from the Mercer County American Legion League reached the American Legion World Series, with only Trenton Post 93 Schroths and Hamilton Post 31 having made it as far in previous seasons.
With the original goal for the team being a state championship win, Coryell said he was proud at how far the team surpassed its goal, ultimately ending the season with a 39-11 record.
“Anything after the state was really just so wonderful to think that we could even compete,” he said. “Everything about the world series was fabulous. It’s just so exciting for the kids.”
“On the first night, our team played in front of 8,300 fans,” Coryell continued. “Not a lot of people can say they’ve done that.”
Along with their regionals record, Hopewell Post 339 went 5-3 in the postseason. The team’s postseason leaders in batting average were Cam Cane (.467), Tom Pecora (.400) and Will Karp (.385). Luke Blair hit two home runs during that stretch, while Cam Cane hit one – both tied for the team’s most runs batted in with nine.
During the postseason, the team had an average earned run average (ERA) of 5.08 and 18 strikeouts.
“Teams like this come along once in a lifetime, really,” Coryell said. “We’ve discussed amongst ourselves that baseball is a funny game. Any given day, you never know what’s going to happen and if we had to do the state competition all over again, who knows if we win – you just never know.”
Looking forward, Coryell said he was trying to stay reasonably realistic with their chances to return next year, though that does not mean they won’t try.
“The team we have coming back next year will certainly be competitive and I look forward to coaching more baseball,” he said. “We’ll worry about next year, next year – right now, we’re going to enjoy what we’ve accomplished.”
