DATE: Friday, August 8, 1997                TAG: 9708060216

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 14   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Sports 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

AFTER YEAR'S ABSENCE, POST 280 RETURNS TO STATE TOURNEY

No matter what happens to Post 280 Chesapeake in the American Legion state playoffs, one thing's nearly a guarantee: There will be no more of this playing at 1 a.m. nonsense.

Lack of sleep was the price Post 280 players had to pay Aug. 1 to get back to the state tournament, which is going on right now in Fredericksburg. That night, Post 280 had a chance to win the Second District title in a 5:30 p.m. game with Post 57 Suffolk. But Post 280 lost that game, 8-3, and had to play a second game in the double-elimination tournament. The nightcap, which started after 8:30 p.m., stretched into the early minutes of the next day.

Post 280 finally won that second game, 13-5, to return to qualify for the state tournament. It was familiar ground. In the five years of the team's history, Post 280 has gone to the state tournament every year, save for last season, earning two runner-up finishes in that span.

The only thing missing: a state title. Two trips to the title game have been fruitless. But Post 280 manager John Knight said he has reason to believe things might be different this time around.

``These kids won't see any better pitching then they've already seen.'' Knight said.

If that's so, Post 280 could be in good shape. In 19 regular-season games, Post 280 held a Ted Williams-like team batting average of .406, with 80 extra-base hits and 18 home runs, while averaging nearly 10 runs a game. Among the standouts, Brian Anderson (who did not accompany the team to Fredericksburg) led the team with a .534 batting average and scored 25 runs, Ray Long batted .515, Skip Harrison had a team-high 30 RBIs and five home runs on a .479 batting average, while Kevin McNeil batted .481.

Jeremy Lawson, Tom Keiper and Thom Ott were the big guns on the mound for Post 280. Lawson led the team with a microscopic 0.51 earned run average in 27 2/3 innings pitched. Keiper and Ott posted identical 2.33 ERAs in 15 innings pitched, with Keiper striking out 26. Claudell Clark struck out 24 in 15 2/3 innings.

They'll need all that to get through the double-elimination state tournament, which started for Post 280 Wednesday against District 16 representative Lynchburg. And staying in the winners' bracket, like they did in the district tournament, is key, Knight said.

``The first two games of the tournament are the most important,'' Knight said. ``You can't afford to let yourself fall into the loser's bracket.''

One of the biggest obstacles for Second District teams in the state tournament had been in maintaining their pitching through a series of nine-inning contests; unlike in most of the state, district games are seven-inning contests here. But this year's district tournament featured nine-inning games, giving the pitchers a chance to get used to longer outings while allowing managers to set up a rotation and bullpen for nine innings before going to state.

Outside of that, however, the approach to the state tournament is no different than that to any other game Post 280 has played this year.

``We didn't want to try anything new in practice (before the state playoffs),'' Knight said. ``They've had plenty of practice, and there's no sense in messing up what they've already learned by doing something else.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN

Chesapeake Post 280's Thom Ott is tagged out at home by Suffolk Post

37's Lee Parks in the district playoff game at Nansemond River High.

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