BASEBALL: Esposito, Manner provide pitching, Post 83 provides runs in season-opener

PERKINS TWP. — Cory Brown could get used to this.
The soon-to-be Port Clinton graduate, who had played limited summer baseball prior to the Sandusky American Legion Post 83 season opener Tuesday night, reached base his first four at-bats while scoring twice and hitting a double in Post 83’s 10-3 win over the Ohio Trojans (Toledo) at Perkins High School.
“It went good, a lot better than I expected,” Brown said. “I’m looking forward to being part of this a lot, especially playing for Coach (Ray) Neill.”
Brown didn’t have the only spectacular Legion debut, as Bellevue senior Adam Manner picked up where he left off in the regular season for the Redmen by pitching five scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out four.
Outside of a seventh-inning single that barely got through the hole between second base and shortstop, Manner didn’t have a ball hit off him go further than the edge of the grass in left field that third baseman Xavier Turner (Perkins) easily caught.
Zak Esposito (Sandusky/Owens C.C.) started and pitched the first four innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits. One of the runs was an inside-the-park home run for the Trojans after Post 83 center fielder Matt  Hamons (Malone/Willard) crashed into the wall and was shaken up.
Hamons stayed in the game and later hit an RBI single.
“Both guys were pretty good,” Neill said. “Zak pitched well and Adam was outstanding. Our defense was also pretty good behind them other than the early miscue by Spencer (Bryant) that was random.”
Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the third, Post 83 scored five runs that were all it needed.
Joe Consolo (Garrett CC/Bellevue) led off with a walk and after Josh Gerold (Perkins) hit into a fielder’s choice, Mike Drake (Sandusky) was hit by a pitch and Matt Gundlach (Ashland/Perkins) also drew a walk to load the bases with one out.
Turner then worked another walk to bring in a run and Bryant (Perkins) smacked a two-run double at the base of the wall in right field that scored two more for a 3-2 lead. Turner then scored on a wild pitch and Hamons hit his RBI single to make it 5-2.
Turner added another RBI walk in the fourth, Brown doubled and scored on a Consolo RBI single in the fifth and Bryant added an RBI single to score Drake in the sixth for an 8-3 lead.
“Offensively, it’s been a while since some of these guys saw live pitching and we had our moments,” Neill said. “Spencer’s double there with the bases loaded was big to get us ahead and allowed us to relax and go from there.”
Post 83 closed the scoring in the seventh with a pair of runs as Brown reached when the center fielder bobbled the ball and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-3. Brady Smith (Sandusky) reached on a passed ball after striking out and he came around to score when Drake hit a sacrifice fly for the 10-3 advantage.
Bryant finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs to pace the hitting attack while Drake was 2-for-4 with an RBI and was hit by a pitch.
“For the first night out, it was a pretty good performance,” Neill said.
Post 83 continues it’s busy first week of the season today at 6 p.m. with a home game against Toledo Post 335.