A record season came to an end for the Pickerington American Legion Post 283 baseball team on Aug. 11 when it was eliminated from the Great Lakes regional tournament.

After winning its opener 2-0 over the Madison (Wis.) Impact on Aug. 9, bad weather forced the postponement of play Aug. 10 in Midland, Mich.

Post 283 lost to Midland Post 346 1-0 in the early session Aug. 11 to fall into the losers bracket. Pickerington then was ousted when it lost to Moline, Ill., 5-4 in 12 innings in the evening session.

Post 283 finished 56-6. It was the most wins in program history. Pickerington became just the second team from District 8 to win a state championship since Legion baseball’s inception in the 1920s.

Against Midland, which has advanced to the World Series in four of the past five seasons, Dan Sexton pitched a two-hitter. However, Pickerington was limited to one hit -- a first-inning single by Jacob Horsley -- by Midland’s Chad Mayle.

Against Moline, Pickerington rallied from a 3-1 deficit by scoring the tying runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Charles Schmidt and an RBI grounder by Joe Matalon.

Moline scored the go-ahead run on a two-out wild pitch from Schmidt.
Post 283 had a chance to tie or win in the bottom of the 12th, as Zach Beaver had a one-out single and Shane Snyder hit a two-out double. Schmidt fouled out down the first-base line to end the season.