Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750’s Owen McCoy poses with the game ball after hitting a walk-off three-run home run in the Ohio American Legion Baseball state championship game against Yeager/Benson Post 199 Monday at Beavers Field in Lancaster. (Photo Provided)

LANCASTER — Owen McCoy lived out the dream every baseball player imagines as a kid.

The Morgan High graduate hit a three-run walk-off home run to propel Beverly/Lowell Post 389/750 past Yeager/Benson Post 199 6-4 for the Ohio American Legion Baseball state championship Monday at Beavers Field.

Yeager/Benson came into the day needing to win twice, and they defeated Beverly/Lowell 11-0 in game one to set up the decisive game two. Beverly/Lowell had not been beaten twice in one day all season, and McCoy made sure it didn’t happen Monday either.

“(Game one) snowballed and got a little sideways for us,” Post 389/750 head coach Todd Engle said between games. “But, you know, we’ve not been swept all year, and we went through this exact same scenario last weekend at the district tournament.”

Beverly/Lowell led the first six innings of game two. They played small ball to take a 1-0 lead in the opening frame. Carter Wheeldin was plunked by the first pitch of the game and went to second on Easton Walker’s sacrifice bunt. After Wheeldin stole third, he scored on Grady Hesson’s grounder to short that was fielded cleanly but thrown away for an error.

Post 389/750 played add-on in the bottom of the fourth. Jack McCurdy and Cameron Sidwell drew back-to-back one-out walks before both came in to score on Wheeldin’s two-run double off the fence. That made it 3-0.

Easton Walker’s effort out the mound gave Beverly/Lowell a huge lift in game two, especially after the club allowed 11 runs earlier in the day.

Walker pitched all seven innings, walking two and striking out six. He worked out of consecutive bases-loaded jams in the first and second innings to set the tone.

However, the Beverly/Lowell defense had a major letdown in the top of the fifth as three straight errors in the outfield led to a pair of Yeager/Benson unearned runs, trimming Beverly/Lowell’s advantage to one.

Post 389/750 led 3-2 going into the seventh when Yeager/Benson put together a rally.

AJ Gundler and Jack Geers led off with back-to-back singles and advanced to second and third on a balk. After Walker intentionally walked Nick Sedam, Chase Luebbe hit a soft groundball to second. Beverly/Lowell got an out at second base, but the tying run scored. Then, on a potential inning-ending double play ball to short, Brandon Stidham’s grounder was booted to bring in the go-ahead run.

That was the fourth error of the game for Beverly/Lowell, but Walker shook it off and got the next two batters to fly out to keep it at 4-3.

Kainan Bradford, who capped Sunday’s 12-2 victory over Ottawa Post 63 in the winner’s bracket final with a game-ending homer, got the bottom of the seventh started with a one-out single to right field. Engle then went to his bench for pinch-hitters in the next two at-bats, which proved to be good decisions as Grady Shuster singled to set up McCoy’s heroics.

McCoy, who had started game one, got down 0-2 in the count but got a fastball right down the middle and jumped all over it, banging it off the scoreboard in left. He touched home plate and was mobbed by his teammates.

Geers pitched the final 3 â…” innings for Yeager/Benson and took the loss. He allowed five earned runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Talon Smith started and pitched the first three innings, surrendering one earned run on three hits with one walk and four punchouts.

Beverly/Lowell, which has now won four state championships, advanced to the Super Regionals in Carol Stream, Ill.

GAME 1

Yeager Benson made sure there would be a winner-take-all matchup by cruising to an 11-0 victory over Beverly/Lowell in game one Monday morning.

Sedam’s first-inning RBI double put Yeager/Benson on top, but it was a massive third inning that ultimately decided the game for Post 199. Yeager/Benson collected 10 hits and 10 runs in the frame to chase starter Jacob Laswell and build an 11-0 lead. In the third, Sedam had two ribbies and two hits, including another RBI double, Stidham had a two-run single and Bruce Becker recorded a pair of bunt singles.

Yeager/Benson starter Ian Price took it from there, going the distance for a five-inning, complete-game shutout. Price allowed just three singles, two to Dominic Fry and one to Easton Walker.

Laswell went 2 â…” innings and was charged with all 11 runs. Cameron Sidwell and Kyler Starr each pitched 1 â…” innings of relief.