Legion baseball: San Mateo eliminates Bears from tourney Legion baseball: San Mateo eliminates Bears from tourney (August 10, 2005)

** Menlo Park finishes 14-7 in Legion competition.

By Chris Preimesberger

Menlo Park Bears

In a game that defined the oft-used term "winning ugly," the San Mateo Bulldogs outlasted the Menlo Park Bears, 18-11, on July 30 in Round 4 of the American Legion Area 2B Tournament at McKevley Park in Mountain View.

When the dust settled, the Bulldogs advanced and Menlo Park was eliminated from the competition.

Menlo Park finished 2-2 in the tourney and 14-7 in "B" competition overall.

The three-hour, 10-minute game was marred by 11 errors, five hit batsman, numerous wild pitches and passed balls, and the ejection of a San Mateo coach for arguing a foul ball call.

Menlo Park led 3-1 after two innings on RBI hits by Joey Stoval and starting pitcher Jon Abramson, but after that the roof caved in.

San Mateo scored four in the third to go ahead 5-3.

But the fifth inning proved to be decisive. San Mateo was leading 7-4, when the Bulldogs broke loose for eight runs off Menlo Park starter Jon Abramson and reliever Brian Roby.

Errors by Menlo Park's D.J. Johnston, Joey Stoval and Matt Mosher were key factors in the 30-minute-long inning.

Menlo Park, down 15-4 in the fifth, did not give up, however.

The Bears fought back with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Preimesberger, the Bears' leading hitter in the tournament, led off the inning with a double to left, went to third on a ground out, and scored on an error by San Mateo first baseman Chris Vargas on a grounder hit by Mosher.

Brian Roby got aboard on another San Mateo error and Johnston walked to load the bases for Skylar Brewer, who was hit by a pitch to force in a third run. Stoval lifted a sacrifice fly to score Roby, and Cody West then lined a single to left to score runs 4 and 5.

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