BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — White River Junction Post 84’s hopes for hosting a Vermont American Legion baseball quarterfinal are drying up, even as the squad finds itself in the driver’s seat for the postseason.
Post 84 dropped a pair of games to Brattleboro Post 5 on Thursday at Natowich Field. Brattleboro rallied from a three-run deficit for an 8-7 win in the completion of a game suspended by weather on July 15. Post 5 then followed with a 3-2 victory in Thursday’s regularly scheduled contest.
WRJ (7-6) held a 7-4 lead through four innings when the first game was stopped last week. Southern Division-leader Brattleboro (12-4) scored single runs in the fifth and sixth, then used a two-run seventh for a walk-off win.
Post 5 built a 3-1 after five frames in the nightcap and withstood late WRJ pressure. Ethan Belvin doubled and scored on an Alex Bushway single to cut the gap to 3-2 in the sixth. Post 84 left Bushway stranded at second to close the frame and went down in order in the seventh.
WRJ had five games left on its schedule entering Friday’s visit to Bellows Falls, holding down third place by percentage points on Post 37. Post 84 visits fifth-place Lakes Region for a Saturday doubleheader before closing its schedule with a home twinbill against Rutland on Sunday.
The top four teams in each division advances to states next week.