The Lemay Post 162 baseball team was one of 13 teams hoping to win it all when it opened the American Legion District 10 Tournament with an impressive 11-0 win over Maryland Heights.

“The district tournament is run about as well as any tournament can be run,” Lemay head coach Brian Daniels told the Call. “Everybody’s got a fair shot to succeed.”

But Lemay (16-15) would do a complete 180 in its next two games with a 16-4 loss to eventual champion Manchester and a 12-2 loss to Eureka.

Daniels believes that one of the keys to winning the District 10 Tournament is a deep pitching staff to survive the rigors of one of the best districts in the country.

“In order to have a shot, you have to have an abundance of pitching,” Daniels said. “Nationally District 10 is ranked among the best coast to coast.”

In the season-ending loss to Eureka, Post 162 committed two errors in the first three innings, which set an early tone of frustration for the remainder of the game.

“Eureka was a winnable game for us,” Daniels said. “It wasn’t that we didn’t have good pitching, we just made errors and didn’t hit the ball well.”

Lemay starting pitcher Jason Nikolaisen took the loss after coming off one of his best pitching performances of the season in the win against Maryland Heights.

“Jason was our ace and has done a hell of a job for us this season,” Daniels said. “He came out on Wednesday (July 18) against Maryland Heights and threw his best game of the year.”

Another player who’s been solid for Lemay Post 162 this season is infielder Tom Case.

He finished the season with a .456 batting average and a .536 on-base percentage. Case also led the team in hits (41), singles (33), runs batted in (33) and walks (19).

“Tom’s a kid that’s just one of the best pure hitters I’ve seen of all time,” Daniels said. “The kid had an on-base percentage of .536 and stole the show all year long.”