MARIETTA — After digging itself a hole too huge to climb out of Tuesday night, St. Clairsville now finds itself in a must-win situation if it is to continue playing American Legion baseball this summer.

Visiting Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 scored four runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back in posting a wire-to-wire 9-4 victory over Post 159 in the winner’s bracket final of the District 11, Region 8 tournament on the artificial surface at sun-splashed Don and Sue Schlay Field inside Pioneer Park of the campus of Marietta College.

Now, the defending district champs (14-6) must defeat Cambridge Post 84 today at 5, and then take down Beverly/Lowell at 7:30 to force a winner-take-all game on Thursday.

“We wanted to jump on them early, but it didn’t work out that way,” Post 159 manager Mike Muklewicz said. “Jake (Heatherington) had an uncharacteristically bad first inning. He usually sails through the first inning, but not tonight.”

However, Muklewicz was proud of the way Heatherington battled and hung in there.

“He hit the re-set button after the first inning and pitched well,” Muklewicz said. “He kept us in the game. I liked that about him.”

The first six Post 389/750 batters of the game reached against Bellaire senior-to-be Jake Heatherington. A single, walk and infield base hit loaded the bases before Jude Huffman walked on a 3-1 pitch to force in a run. Jacob Huffman was hit with a 1-1 pitch to make it 2-0.

Ian Ellis bounced to third as a run scored and Jacob Huffman raced home after stealing third when the throw sailed into left field for a 4-0 reading.

“”I wasn’t worried about the slow start because I figured our bats would wake up at some point,” Muklewicz noted. “But that didn’t happen. We hit some hard shots, but they were right at them.”

Jaren Starks’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second cut into the deficit as Will Balgo scored to make it 4-1.

However, Beverly/Lowell responded with two runs in the third for a 6-1 advantage.

Wade Pauley’s sinking liner to left-center got past the diving Starks and rolled to the warning track. He circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run.

Jude Huffman lined the next pitch for a double to the gap in right-center. He would eventually score on an error.

St. Clairsville got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third when Balgo doubled home Braylen Blomquist from first. Blomquist had reached on the second of his three singles.

Post 159 continued to claw back as a Beverly/Lowell error and Mason Myers’ run-scoring infield single cut the margin to 6-4 in the fourth. However, it left runners on second and third and would get no closer.

Post 389/750 pulled away with one run in the fifth and a pair in the sixth.

Heatherington struck out six, walked three and allowed eight hits in six innings of work.

He threw 106 pitches (74 strikes) and went ahead of 23 of the 33 batters he faced.

Of the nine runs he surrendered, only four were earned.

Dylan Gregorcic added a pair of singles to the Post 159 attack.

Alex Gruey picked up the win for Beverly-Lowell, striking out four, issuing two base-on-balls and yielding eight hits in six-plus innings. His brother, Clay, closed out the game by recording the final two outs.

Carter Wheeldin had two runs batted in for the winners, while Seth Dennis singled twice.

Muklewicz wasn’t sure who would get the ball today against Cambridge, but Colby Shriver and Hunter Hoffman are two options.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

∫ The double-elimination event was scheduled for Gant Stadium in Zanesville, but rains washed out both Saturday and Sunday’s action. It was moved to Marietta College where play began on Monday.

∫ After losing 16-2 to St. Clairsville on Monday night, Zanesville Post 29 informed tournament officials that it would not be back to play Cambridge in a loser’s bracket game on Tuesday. That was the second forfeit of the tournament as Barnesville forfeited to St. Clairsville in the tourney opener on Friday.

∫ The district champion plays at 9 a.m. Monday in the state tournament at Beavers Field in Lancaster.