Farmington Legion team splits doubleheader

Talk about it

Some timely hitting gave Post 189 the lead, then some clutch pitching preserved a win and forged a doubleheader split with Red Wing Friday night.

Post 189, after getting drubbed 12-1 in five innings in Game 1, got run-scoring hits in four innings to take a 7-4 lead into the seventh inning of the nightcap. Starting pitcher Justin Tang took the mound to start the seventh and gave up a hit-by-pitch and back-to-back run-scoring hits that made it a one-run game with nobody out. With the tying and go-ahead runs on, Tang notched his third strikeout, and then coaxed Red Wing into a pair of fly outs to preserve the victory.

“It was definitely a solid win against a solid team,” Farmington Legion coach Andy Pierskalla said. “They were in the final four in the section, so it’s nice to get a win against them.”

Farmington (3-4) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run single by John Stibal. After Red Wing scored three in the bottom of the inning, Stibal tied the game back up with an RBI single in the third.

Post 189 used three extra-base hits to push across three more runs in the top of the fourth. With one out, Matt Rudorfer got the rally started with a triple. Jake Baskerville followed with an RBI double and and came around to score on a Nate Graham triple. Graham later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-3.

Graham, Stibal and Baskerville each had two of the team’s eight hits. The team’s final hit, an RBI single by Spencer Merle in the sixth, ended up being the difference-maker.

In Game 1, Farmington’s lone run came on an inside-the-park home run by Graham.

Post 189 will be back in action this weekend when it squares off against St. Michael-Albertville, Richfield, North St. Paul and Marshall in pool play at the 36th Annual Grand Rapids Invitational. The top two teams from the pool advance to Sunday’s finals.

“It’s kind of a goal with all these games back-to-back to get these kids ready for Grand Rapids,” Pierskalla said. “It takes some conditioning to play four games in two days. Hopefully we’ll be experienced and the kids won’t run out of gas.”

Thursday at Hastings

Jonathan Ellis scattered six hits over seven innings as Post 189 edged Hastings 4-3 in Game 1 of a doubleheader Thursday night.

Ty Vincent started a two-run first inning with an RBI single and another run scored on an error.

Rudorfer brought in another run in the fourth with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Baskerville followed with an RBI groundout to make it 4-0.

Hastings scored three runs in three innings against starter Zach Wallace and held on for a 5-3 victory. Wallace left after being hit by a line drive and Drew Hegseth pitched the final three innings.

Nick Newman drove in Post 189’s first two runs with a third-inning double.

Tags: legion baseball, sports, farmington, proam