The Flora Junior Legion Post 14 looked to build off their win last Sunday against the Southern Illinois Bullets when they headed to Champaign early Friday morning.

Champaign hosted the eight team Junior Legion tournament at Champaign Centennial and Champaign Central schools.

Flora began the tournament playing a team they have already saw twice this season in Effingham.

Effingham Post 120 swept a double header held at Mike Jennings Field in Flora on June 5.

North Clay Senior Colton Bailey took the ball for game one of the tournament and didn’t disappoint.

Bailey pitched an eight inning complete game victory as Flora won 2-1 in extra innings.

The one run Effingham scored came in the first inning, and then had three baserunners the rest of the game, none getting past second base.

Flora tied the game at one in the top of the second inning on a Dalton Zimmerman RBI single to center which drove home Pierson Boose.

The game stayed locked up through the next five innings with each team battling to score a run.

Flora broke through for the winning run in the top of the eighth inning when Clint Quinn led off with a doube down the right field line.

After a ground out by Bailey, Bryton Krutsinger singled and moved Quinn to third.

North Clay Junior Bryan Harrington then hit a one out sacrifice fly to right field and drove home Quinn to put Flora up 2-1.

A single by Boose looked to score Krutsinger from second, but he was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Bailey retired Effingham in order in the bottom of the eighth to give Flora the victory and start the tournament off on the right foot.

Post 14 then had to wait until 5:30 p.m. for their second game of the day when they faced Mahomet.

In between Flora’s two games, Effingham defeated Champaign (White) for their first victory.

Mahomet was coming off a victory where they defeated Champaign (White) .

Flora had a chance to be in the driver’s seat in their pool with a victory over Mahomet.

It was another nip and tuck baseball game where Flora received great pitching and timely hitting.

The defense from Post 14 helped as they went onto defeat Mahomet 3-2 for  their second victory of the day and sat atop their pool after day one of the tournament.

Bryan Harrington supplied the great pitching for Post 14 with a seven inning, complete game victory.

Flora’s defense began the game on a good note when they turned a double play to get Post 14 out of the first inning.

Quinn took one for the team when he was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the first inning for Flora.

A single by Bailey gave Flora runners on first and second with no one out.

Krutsinger moved both runners into scoring position with a groundout to second base.

After a strike out by Boose, things looked bleak for Flora.

Harrington helped his own cause without even making contact with the baseball.

A wild pitch on Harrington strike three, allowed Quinn to score from third and on the Mahomet throw to first to try and throw out Harrington, Bailey raced home and scored.

Harrington beat the throw to first and allowed Post 14 to take a 2-0 lead on a dropped third strike.

Austin Lewis struck out to end the inning, but Post 14 led after the first inning by two.

Mahomet was retired in order in the next two innings and kept off the scoreboard until the top of the fifth inning.

Harrington allowed a one out walk, the a two out triple to cut Post 14’s lead to one.

Another single drove home the second run of the inning for Mahomet to tie the game at two.

It was a new game heading into the bottom of the fifth when Dylan McKnelly led off with a single to right field.

A double by Quinn into the left field corner moved McKnelly into third and gave Flora two runners in scoring position.

Mahomet tried to intentionally walk Bailey, but threw a pitch down the pipe.

Bailey took advantage of the mistake and lined the baseball into right center field.

The baseball was hit hard enough and shallow enough it didn’t allow McKnelly to score from third base.

It was taken care of one batter later when Krutsinger hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score McKnelly  and give Flora the 3-2 lead.

Boose struck out to end the inning, but it turned out to be enough as Harrington worked a perfect 1,2,3, inning in the top of the seventh inning to give Flora the victory.

Post 14 led pool play with the two victories on Friday and went into their final game of pool play Saturday morning with an unblemished record.

Saturday morning they faced Champaign (White) looking to go 3-0.

Post 14 Head Coach J. R. Lewis sent Brent Taylor to the mound.

Taylor worked a scoreless top of the first inning despite allowing a two out single to Champaign (White).

Flora was unable to get anything going in their half of the first inning and was retired in order.

Neither team was able to push a run across the plate in the second inning and the game remained scoreless.

Taylor continued to keep Champaign (White) off-balanced after working his third straight scoreless inning to start the game.

Flora however finally cracked the scoreboard with a run in the bottom half of the third inning.

Three straight walks and a single by Krutsinger pushed across the games first run and gave Flora the 1-0 lead in the process.

Taylor held Champaign (White) in check in the top of the fourth and after a scoreless inning by Post 14, Champaign put a rally together.

A lead-off double by the Champaign (White) catcher put a runner is scoring position.

Taylor induced a pop out to first and a sacrifice bunt on two pitches for two quick outs.

Unfortunately, Champaign (White) singled to right to score a run and tie the game at one.

Flora answered back in their half of the fifth inning with a pair of runs to regain the lead.

A one out walk by Bailey and a two out double into the left field gap from Harrington drove home the go ahead run.

Boose then drove home Harrington from second with a single for the second run of the inning to five Flora the 3-1 lead.

Taylor pitched a scoreless top of the sixth for Post 14, keeping their lead at two.

Champaign (White) held  Flora in check in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Flora had three outs to go to secure the number one seed coming out of their pool, unfortunately things didn’t go their way in the seventh inning.

Taylor walked the lead off hitter, then gave up a double, allowing Champaign to cut the Post 14 lead to one.

Coach Lewis then went to his bullpen in the form of Dalton Zimmerman.

Zimmerman allowed three more runs in the inning and Champaign took a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Harrington started the inning for Flora by reaching on an error, but Champaign shut the door without allowing Post 14 to score a run and handed Flora their first loss of the tournament, 5-3.

The loss still allowed Flora Post 14 to be named pool champions.

It then set them up for a 3 p.m. game against Decatur.

Flora came out swinging against Decatur and shortgamed them with a 10-0 five inning win.

Walks by Quinn and Harrington, along with a sacrifice fly from Boose gave Flora the 1-0 lead after the first inning.

A RBI single by Quinn scored Taylor in the bottom of the second inning to put Post 14 up 2-0.

Flora added two more runs in their half of the third inning.

Harrington led off with a double,then singles from Boose, Christian Taylor, and Zimmerman plated the runs to put Flora up 4-0.

Post 14 continued to score runs in the bottom half of the fourth when they plated three more runs to extend their lead to 7-0.

It was enough for starter Dylan McKnelly who pitched five innings of shut-out baseball.

Flora ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with three runs to take the 10-0 win.

The victory over Decatur set up a game for third place against Champaign (Red).

Effingham won the tie-breaker over Flora because of runs allowed, despite Post 14 beating Effingham in the first game of the tournament.

It was a let down of sorts for Post 14 on Sunday as they faced Champaign (Red).

Champaign jumped onto Flora starting pitcher Bryton Krutsinger for five runs in the first two innings and held Post 14 scoreless.

Krutsinger threw 53 pitches in the first and only two innings of work.

Champaign (Red) conintued to score runs as they pushed across another six in the game as they handed Flora an 11-4 loss.

Flora scored one run each in the fourth and fifth inning, then pushed a pair of runs across in the top of the seventh inning.

Post 14 finished the tournament with a 3-2 record and are now 4-5 on the season.

Effingham lost in the championship game to Windsor as they went 3-2 in the Wooden Bat Tournament as well.

Flora Jr. Legion is back in action this Saturday morning when they host Massac County Jr. Legion at 11 a.m., then play Salem at 3 p.m at Mike Jennings Field in Flora.