Post 126 Navy Team Eyes State Championship After Division Wins

BREESE - The Alton Post 126 under-17 navy junior American Legion baseball team won the Fifth Division tournament on Sunday, July 20, 2025, at Northside Park in Breese, defeating Orient Post 1961's junior team 13-2, then won over Carrier Mills Post 365 6-5 to win the double elimination tournament.

The navy team will host the Illinois state tournament next weekend, July 24-27, 2025, at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Gordon Moore Park, and had an automatic berth as host team. Carrier Mills will play in the state tournament as the Fifth Division representative.

Against Orient, Post 126 scored twice in the first, and four times in the second to take an early 6-0 lead, with Orient pulling back to within 6-1 with a single run in the bottom of the third. Alton countered with four more runs in the fourth, and three in the fifth, to another single run in the home half of the fifth by Orient to end the game 13-2, the game terminated by the 10-run rule.

Evan Spurgeon led Post 126 with two hits and three RBIs, while both Luke Clouser and Donavan Ducey had two hits and two RBIs each, Logan Bromaghim had two hits, Nolan Bowsher had a hit, Chase Collman had two RBIs, and Jayce Steinkuehler also drove in a run. Ducey worked four innings on the mound and was credited with the win, allowing an unearned run on two hits, walking three and striking out four, while Bromaghim pitched in the fifth, and allowed an earned run on two hits, walking none and fanning none.

In the title game win over Carrier Mills, Post 365 took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but Alton scored twice in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 2-1. Carrier Mills took the lead back in the top of the fourth with two runs to lead 3-2, but Post 126 countered with two runs in the home half of the fifth to go on top 4-3. Carrier Mills tied the game in the top of the sixth with a single run, but Alton scored twice more, including what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the inning, to go ahead 6-4. Carrier Mills scored a single run in the top of the seventh, but could come no closer, as Alton took the 6-5 win and the division championship.

Clouser led Post 126 with two hits and two RBIs, while both Ducey and Collman had two hits each, Spurgeon and Bowsher both had a hit and two RBIs each, and both Brady Cheek and Deacon Alm each came up with a hit. Tyler Powell started on the mound, and went 3.1 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits, walking one and striking out three, Alm went for three innings, and was credited with the win, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, walking one and fanning two, and Collman pitched 0.2 innings to earn the save, giving up an earned run on a hit, walking three and striking out none.

The navy team will play first in the state tournament Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. against the winner of Jerseyville and the lowest qualifier, with the winner of the 1 p.m. game going through to the winner's bracket final Saturday morning at 11 a.m. A loss on Thursday relegates Alton to the losers bracket, where they would play an elimination game Friday at 10:30 a.m. A win would advance Alton to another elimination game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, with a win putting them into the losers bracket final in another elimination game at 4 p.m.

The championship series is set for Sunday at 11 a.m., with a second game for the state title to be played at 1:30 p.m. if needed.