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By PETE YOUNG
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 2, 2001
St. Petersburg Post 14 had the home field and the top seed in the American Legion A Southwest Area Tournament, but it couldn't get the breaks it needed to put it over the hump.
Post 14 earned a bye and then won its first game at the Ray Naimoli complex, but it dropped one-run decisions to Sarasota Baseball Club on Friday and Venice Post 159 on Saturday and was eliminated.
Sarasota Baseball Club defeated Post 159 13-9 on Sunday for the title, and both teams advanced to the state tournament in Sanford.
In its first loss, Post 14 led 1-0 after seven innings against Sarasota Baseball Club but yielded runs in the bottom of the eighth and ninth to lose 2-1, wasting a superlative effort on the mound by John Stang, who went 81/3 innings.
"He had one h--- of a game," Post 14 coach Joe Martin said. "We just couldn't push anybody home."
Against Post 159, Post 14 got ambushed, falling behind 9-0 in the first inning as Venice rattled off eight consecutive singles.
Three Northeast players helped rally Post 14. Vikings' senior-to-be Rich Tribou was 3-for-4 with a home run and double, former Northeast star Jason Leonard was 3-for-4 with a triple, and rising sophomore Scott Moeller pitched 71/3 innings in relief, allowing just three hits and two runs. However, the Post 14 comeback came up just short, 11-10.
Madeira Beach Post 273, which had dropped into the loser's bracket with a 2-0 defeat to Sarasota Baseball Club, was eliminated Friday in 12 innings by Manatee Post 24, 11-8.