WEST SUNBURY — Meridian had one pitcher, a shortstop with an ailing back and two of its top players not available.

It also had a two-run lead at No. 2 seed West Sunbury after an inning and a half Saturday night in the Butler County American Legion Baseball Tournament.

It just didn’t last.

West Sunbury (13-4) tied the game in the bottom of the second and tacked on runs in every inning thereafter for a 13-6 victory.

“This was not the cleanest game we’ve played this year,” West Sunbury manager Brian Williams admitted. “If Joel and Jace Stutz were here, this might have been a different story.

“But we’ll take it. We just know we have to play better.”

West Sunbury dropped into the loser’s bracket Sunday with a 4-0 loss to East Butler.

The Stutz twins — two of Meridian’s top hitters — were away at a basketball tournament Saturday in New Jersey.

“I’m proud of my players,” Meridian manager Tyler Friel said. “We had a depleted roster and our shortstop got hurt early in the game. Still, we were only down a couple of runs in the fifth inning.

“We had chances, but couldn’t finish rallies off late.”

Meridian (3-16) stranded eight runners in the final three innings. West Sunbury left nine runners on in the first four frames.

Both teams left the bases loaded twice.

West Sunbury jumped on Meridian pitcher Gabe Slagel for four runs in the first inning. The hosts stole six bases in the frame and swiped 15 in the contest with no runners getting caught.

“We run a lot. That’s our game. We probably average six to eight stolen bases a game,” Williams said. “I didn‘t realize we had that many today.

“If anything, we can be too aggressive at times.”

Meridian scored all six of its runs in the second inning against West Sunbury starter Chance Nagy. Jarret Lyon’s two-out, two-run single capped the rally.

But West Sunbury kept the bases clogged all evening, collecting 14 singles, seven walks, a hit batsman and taking advantage of four Meridian errors.

“All of these kids can hit,” Williams said. “They get the bat on the ball. We can shuffle our lineup around and get the same result.”

The top three hitters in West Sunbury’s lineup on this night — Hunter Fitzingo, Nick Sosigian and Josh Adamson — combined to go 6-for-10 with four walks, eight runs and five RBI.

Lake Pry added a pair of RBI singles. Nathan Sosigian had two singles while Gage Neal had a pair of singles and scored twice.

Slagel threw 159 pitches in six innings. He never threw less than 22 in a single frame.

“Gabe gave us a gutsy effort,” Friel said. “We haven’t asked him to pitch that much for us this year. The guy we’ll pitch (Sunday) was away on a college visit today.”

After Meridian got to Nagy in the second, Nick Sosigian tossed four straight scoreless innings to get the win in relief.

“Nick comes in and throws strikes,” Williams said. “That’s what we like about him. He came in and got the job done.”

Meridian 060 000 0 — 6 8 4

West Sunbury 421 132 x — 13 14 1

W: Nick Sosigian 4IP (5K, 4BB). L: Gabe Slagel 6IP (3K, 7BB).

Meridian (3-16): Josh Albert 2-1B RBI, Nick Grosch 2-1B RBI, Jarret Lyon 1B 2-RBI, Austin Peray 1B, Mason Strawn 1B, Kole Kuharic 1B RBI

West Sunbury (13-4): Hunter Fitzingo 2-1B RBI 3-R, Nick Sosigian 2-1B 3-RBI 2-R, Josh Adamson 2-1B RBI 3-R, Wyatt Geibel RBI, Nathan Sosigian 2-1B RBI, Brice Williams 1B RBI, Lake Pry 2-1B 2-RBI, Chance Nagy 1B, Gage Neal 2-1B 2-R

Tuesday: Meridian at Cranberry, 8:15 p.m., Center Township at West Sunbury, 6 p.m.