It is now known that the Johnston County-based American Legion Post 71 baseball squad is a good team. How great a team is yet to be determined.

But the Sabres took another step toward finding out just how good, or great, they can be Saturday night. They did that by rallying past Durham Post 7, 5-4, to complete a sweep of the best-of-five Area 1, Western Division championship series.

By virtue of the three-game sweep, the Sabres improved to 18-9 on the season with their eighth consecutive post-season win.

In addition, the Sabres advanced not only to this week’s Area 1 championship series against Wayne County Post 11, but they qualified for the N. C. American Legion Senior State Championship tournament, which will begin Aug. 5 in Gastonia.

The Area 1 championship began Tuesday night at Smithfield-Selma High School, with the second game to be played later today (Wednesday) at Southern Wayne High School. Game 3, if needed, will be at SSS on Thursday.

“We’re on a hot streak right now,” said Post 71 assistant coach Brandon Lusk. “And we just want to continue it. These kids don’t know how to lose.”

But they do know how to win and displayed their tenacity for winning Saturday night, using timely hitting, speed on the bases and even a little trickery to pull out the victory.

The timely hitting enabled the Sabres to forge a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth.

Held hitless through 5 1/3 innings by southpaw starter Eric Backus, the Sabres broke through with consecutive one-out doubles by Drew Alford and Justin Diener to tie the game.

Their doubles came after designated hitter Evan Harbinson had drawn a walk and was subsequently picked off at first.

Alford then ripped a double down the left field line, and Diener followed with his RBI-blast to right.

“I had just remarked how I didn’t think we had had a hit going into the sixth,” Lust said. “Who would have thought that pickoff would be the rallying point?”

Speed and trickery worked hand-in-hand in the seventh, as the Sabres used a pair of double steals to take a 3-1 lead.

Ryan Daughtry drew a one-out walk to start the rally, and Colin Parker was then hit by Backus to put runners on first and second.

During Jeff Citer’s at-bat, the duo executed the first double-steal, moving both runners into scoring position. Citero struck out, bringing Evan Harbinson to the plate. As Backus delivered a pitch, Parker broke for third, coming to a halt a few feet away from the bag, where Daughtry still stood.

Appearing to be hung out to dry, Parker began retreating back to second, drawing a throw from Durham catcher Stephen Kallianos.

Daughtry broke for home on the throw, scoring easily, while Parker raced back to third, drawing a throw from shortstop Patrick Kerwin.

The throw eluded third baseman Bill Sanders, and Parker dashed home for the 3-1 lead.

“Ryan Daughtry called the play,” said Lust, who was coaching at third base. “Ryan said it was something they’ve done at Princeton High School, and he said, ‘Coach, it works, it always works.’

“I said do it. Colin ran it perfectly, and Ryan got a great read on the throw to second. He’s one of the fastest kids on the team.”

Lust described the play as “just great effort.”

After Durham tied the game in the top half of the eighth on a two-run homer by Kallianos, the Sabres responded in their half of the inning with another pair of runs, once again on timely hitting.

Daughtry had a hand in this rally as well, which came with two out, off Kerwin, who had taken over on the mound in relief of Backus.

Blake Murray drew a two-out walk and moved to third on a double by Kyle Cummings.

Daughtry then followed with a two-run double to right, for a 5-3 lead.

Will Henschel, who picked up the save in the opening game, had relieved starting pitcher Chris Hinton in the seventh and had allowed the homer to Kallianos.

He was victimized again on a lead-off homer by Kerwin, but slammed the door on the next three batters to preserve the win.

Hinton scattered seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking five. Henschel fanned two and allowed four hits.

The Sabres, a 6-5 winner in Thursday’s opener in Clayton, jumped on Durham early and often Friday night, taking the second game 12-2 in seven innings at Riverside High.

Diener doubled twice and scored twice while batting 3-for-5, while Daughtry also batted 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including a two-run homer to lead an 11-hit attack.

Cummings added a double in a 2-for-5 night at the plate, while Brian Mills scored three times and batted 2-for-5. The Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 first inning led, then pushed the margin to 6-0 in the third.

That advantage stood until the sixth, when the Sabres put together four hits and used four Durham errors to blow the game wide open with six runs.

Parker went the distance for the Sabres on the mound, giving up four hits while walking four batters and fanning five.