The American Legion Baseball Illinois State Tournament wrapped up on Sunday in Aviston, Illinois. Hoisting the trophy and moving on to the Great Lakes Regional this week were the tournament hosts, Aviston Post 1239. Aviston ran through the tournament undefeated (4-0), beating Rock Island Post 200 16-11 on a scorching hot Sunday afternoon. Aviston goes into the Great Lakes Regional in Lexington, Kentucky this week at (24-2-1).
Rock Island, who lost their first round game to Palos 1993 last Wednesday, fought all the way back through the loser’s bracket to get to the championship game on Sunday. They had to run off four straight wins to get a shot at the title. Along the way, they ran into Galesburg Post 285 in the loser’s bracket final and earned revenge for a loss to Galesburg in the 3rd Division championship game with an 11-2 victory.
Galesburg won their first two games of the tournament but would lose to eventual champ Aviston 7-4 in the winner’s bracket final on Saturday afternoon. Alfred Ayala went 3-4 at the plate in the loss. Galesburg dropped down to the loser’s bracket and fell behind Rock Island 7-1 after three innings and could never recover. Noah Nalley hit his 5th home run of the season in the loss. Galesburg ends the summer with a record of (22-8) overall.
Rock Island ends the season at (35-10). Aviston heads to Lexington, Kentucky and will open up the Great Lakes Regional on Wednesday, August 5th at 8pm. The winner of the Great Lakes Regional will move on to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina.
Final tournament bracket….
