All three came together for Post 71's American Legion Baseball team Saturday night, as the Sabres rolled past Garner Post 232, 10-3 in an Area I, Western Division contest.

After dropping a 7-3 decision at reigning Area One champion Wayne County Post 11 Friday night, the Sabres came out with a different attitude and a confident swagger against Garner.

The Sabres (7-4 overall, 6-3 division) did so with patience, aggressiveness and power in improving to 7-4 overall and 6-3 in the Western Division.

"This was big for us," said assistant coach Brandon Lusk. "We went to Wayne County and lost a tough, close game - but today we were able to adjust to the pitching and were patient.

"All throughout the game we went up to the plate making adjustments."

The Sabres and Wayne County played seven innings of 2-2 ball on Friday night before Post 11 pulled away with a five-run outburst in the game's final two innings at Mount Olive College's Scarborough Field.

Those adjustments at the plate enabled the Sabres to completely turn around their previous effort against Post 232, an 8-5 loss June 8, in which 18 batters struck out for Post 71, 11 coming against Sean Willingham.

This time, however, the Sabres, because of their patience and adjustments, were ready for Willingham, chasing the right-hander from the mound in the third inning.

Although Willingham fanned five Sabres, Post 71 more than atoned for the whiffs, drawing four walks and delivering clutch hits with men in scoring position to build a 5-1 lead.

The Sabres made Willingham pay for three of those walks, including lead-off passes in the first and third innings.

After Doug Furlong drew a pass to start the game for the Sabres, Jeffrey Joyner delivered a one-out double to right, giving Post 71 runners on second and third.

Willingham uncorked the first of two wild pitches to score Furlong, tying the game at 1-1.

Willingham's third walk of the night, and second lead-off pass came in the third inning, igniting a four-run frame that gave the Sabres a 5-1 lead. Drew Alford drew that pass, and moved to third on a single by Joyner, who enjoyed a 3-for-5 night to lead the Sabres, including a two-run, sixth-inning homer.

Josh Holloman's two-run double drove in Alford and Joyner to snap the 1-1 tie, and he scored on a fielding error of Nate Lusk's grounder by Garner first baseman Phillip Cotton.

Holloman, who was 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs, jump-started the Sabres' power display, with a lead off homer in the fifth, which was followed by a two-out blast by Bryant Noteboom.

Noteboom drew three walks in the contest, including a two-out pass in the third that led to the fourth Sabres run of that inning when he stole second and scored on a single by Alex Hadding.

"Seven of their eight lead-off batters reached base against us tonight," said Post 232 coach Chris Cook. "We didn't pitch very well, hit very well or field very well, which equals up to not playing very well."

Garner, which fell to 12-8 overall and 6-4 in the Western Division, struggled to find a consistent offensive attack against the Sabres' Will Henschel, who scattered six hits over eight innings while striking out three and walking one.

Post 232 jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead on one-out singles by Michael Zeblo, who stole second, and Daniel Terry.

Paco Martin also connected for a one-out single, giving Post 232 runners on first and second, and a two-out walk to Cotton loaded the bases, but a fly to center by Hunter Brown ended the uprising.

Jeremy Conyers reached on an error and stole second to open the inning, moving to third on a grounder by Patrick Monahan, but was stranded. Monahan provided Garner with the bulk of its offense after that, doubling and scoring in the fifth and homering in the seventh, while batting 3-for-4.

"Their pitcher did a great job," Cook said.

"Will struggled in the first inning," Lusk said. "He had no command of his fastball, but I told him, 'if that's the worst inning we have, we're in good shape'.

"He went to a slider, we told him to pitch backwards, and we rolled. Tonight he had excellent command of his slider, and his fastball got better and better."

Henschel wanted to go nine innings, but his pitch count was up, allowing the Sabres' coaching staff to lift him for Will Stephenson in the ninth. Stephenson fanned two batters in a scoreless ninth to seal the win.

"Will [Stephenson] was able to command his changeup, off-speed and fastball tonight," Lusk said. "It was an excellent job by both pitchers tonight."

Post 71's Joyner also went 3-for-5 in the loss to Wayne County. Chris Hinton, a rising sophomore playing on his home field during college ball, was solid but took the tough luck loss. Hinton worked seven innings plus, allowing two earned runs and eight hits.