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Gaithersburg Post 295 entered this week's Montgomery Division American Legion baseball tournament as a heavy underdog, despite being the two-time defending champion.

But when the double-elimination competition ended Friday evening at Gaithersburg High, Post 295 was the undisputed winner for the seventh time in the past eight years, besting second-seeded Laurel Post 60, 9-2, for a clean sweep of its three postseason games.

"It was great to get hot late," said Post 295 catcher Travis Smith. "We definitely pulled together and played well when it really mattered. ... We just got the mindset that we're the underdogs and they've got something to prove so we've just got to play our game and it ended up working for us."

Because Gaithersburg (17-11) is the host of the Maryland State American Legion tournament to be held next week, mostly at the University of Maryland, both squads qualified for states.

That knowledge, however, did not relax Post 295, but seemed to fire up a squad that has gone through a lot of personnel changes because of injury and defections this summer. Gaithersburg defeated its three playoff opponents by a combined 21-11 score.

"It's very special coming out of the fourth spot," said Post 295 manager Rick Price. "It's a totally different team than [we] started the season. The pitchers were lights out in the playoffs. They shut everybody down and we started hitting. Everybody started hitting at the same time."

Following complete-game wins by Tyler Klitsch and Christian Sbily on Tuesday and Wednesday, Post 295 right-hander Brett Sliwiak worked out of some early jams Friday. He stranded seven bases runners in the first three innings, including three in the first, and held a potent Post 60 lineup to one run in six innings of work with six strikeouts.

Offensively, Post 295 grabbed a 4-0 lead in the third inning on a run-scoring single by Nick Karis, a sacrifice fly by Mike Ryan and a two-run blast to left field by Smith. Gaithersburg added four more runs in the fifth inning largely on a two-run single to left field by Smith, who added a run-scoring single in the sixth and was 4 for 4 on the day.

"Before the game, I told myself, ‘This is where it matters and this is where I've got to work on things,'" Smith said. "I just put everything together tonight, I guess."

Post 60 (18-11), which looked more and more sluggish as the game wore on, as this was its fourth straight game in 90-plus degree temperatures, finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning on a double by Will Warrick. Laurel scored once again in the seventh against reliever Brandon Baker on a single by Jordan Thompson.

"I don't accept that as an alibi for my team, but we didn't play well," said Laurel coach Doc Drewyer on the tough stretch of games. "We didn't play well."