Eilbacher helps lead Post 414 to Final 8

BY RICH FISHER

Lawrence Post 414 manager Jason Zegarski was looking forward to having a doublebarreled Eilbacher attack this summer.

It didn’t quite work out that way but, as “Ziggy” discovered, having one in the fold can still be pretty profitable.

Recent Notre Dame graduate Lance Eilbacher played in the Mercer County American Legion League for the first time and made quite an impact.

The Titusville resident hit .348 in the regular season and was second on the team to fellow Hopewell Township product Jeffrey Blake with 24 hits. (Blake had 25, along with a .410 average and 23 RBI). Eilbacher was third on the squad with 20 RBI, led the team with 11 doubles, and added one triple and two home runs.

In Lawrence’s 14-1 win over Washington Township in the District 4 State Tournament, which gave Post 414 its fourth straight appearance in the State Final 8, Eilbacher contributed with two hits and two RBI. In an 8-6 district win over North Hamilton two days earlier, he had two more hits.

Lawrence began Final 8 play

July 21, and while Zegarski has cherished Lance’s contributions, he can only dream what it would have been like to have his twin brother Logan on the team.

“The plan was to have them both,” the manager said. “But Logan got hurt in one of the later Notre Dame games and unfortunately had to get surgery on his shoulder.”

The twin terrors were outstanding in their final two years with Notre Dame. This past season Logan led the Irish in hitting at .493 with a team-high 33 hits, 26 RBI, 11 doubles and three homers. Lance checked in at .392 with 31 hits, five doubles, three triples, a homer and 12 RBI. Both scored 22 runs. In their junior seasons, they each hit over .400 and combined for 38 runs and 38 RBI.

This was not the first summer they did not play together, as they were on different squads with the Diamond Jacks travel program. But the two always motivate each other.

“He pushes me a lot,” Lance said. “Off-season is a big time for me and him. We go to the cages together, we push each other. It’s like having a builtin throwing partner. We’ll go out there, I’ll throw to him, he

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