Austin Post 91 baseball team gets by Kasson to move on in District tournament
Published 10:48 pm Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Austin Legion’s Steven Clennon is caught in a rundown against Kasson in playoff action Tuesday night at Marcusen Field. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin Post 91 pitcher Nik Gasner had two reasons to play well at Marcusen Park Tuesday.
It was his mothers’ birthday, and Austin Post 91 was opening the double-elimination District playoffs as the top seed against No. 8 Kasson.
Gasner came through with a solid performance and Post 91 beat Kasson 12-6 to move on in the tournament. Austin will play No. 4 seeded Winona at Loughery Field at Winona State Thursday at 7 p.m.
Gasner pitched six innings and he allowed just three hits and one earned run. He was 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs.
Austin Legion’s Alex Ciola turns before getting hit by a pitch against Kasson in district playoff action Tuesday night at Marcusen Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“It was my mom’s birthday and I wanted to get a win for her because that’s what she wanted,” Gasner said. “It was nice to go out there and get a pretty big win like that. Maybe [Kasson’s] regular season wasn’t the greatest, but we knew they were a pretty solid team.”
Austin (18-8 overall), which has now won nine straight games, used a big two out rally in the bottom of the first inning to take over early on. After having nobody on base with two outs, five straight Post 91 hitters reached base and Zach Huntley, Steven Clennon, who went 3-for-3, and Ethan Horstmann all knocked in runs.
The game was a special one for Huntley as it was his last home Legion game after four years with the team.
“This has probably been one of the best summers,” Huntley, who graduated from AHS in 2013, said. “It’s kind of weird being the old guy out here, but these guys are fun. We’re hoping to go far. We were close last year, but I want state this year.”
Austin took a 9-2 led in the fifth inning when Daniel Bollingberg knocked in a run and it cruised through the last four frames.
“We did what we had to do,” Austin co-head coach Joe Kroc said. “For the most part I thought we had good at bats and our pitchers threw strikes. Anytime you have lead you want to throw strikes, and I thought our pitchers did a good job of making them hit it. The way teams can get back in it is if you give them free bases.”
Playing as the top seed was a new experience for most of the Austin baseball players as it has been a long time since Post 91 has started the District tournament with a home game. Gasner said he wasn’t about to feel any added pressure.
“It’s not really pressure,” he said. “You don’t want to lose your first game as the No. 1 seed, but I tried to have fun with it because we haven’t been a one seed lately. We wanted to show that we deserved it.”
Austin will now have to change gears to play Winona on the road.
When the teams met in a regular season doubleheader June 27, Austin lost 3-1 and won 5-4 in 11 innings.
“We just have to continue to execute,” Kroc said. “The guys have been in it, so we’re ready to go. Thursday’s a big one and hopefully we can pull it off.”
Kasson 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 — 6 7 4
Austin 4 1 0 1 3 0 2 1 X — 12 13 3
Austin pitching: Nik Gasner (W) 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 HBP; Jacob Kempen, 3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 K
Austin hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 2-for-3, RBI, 2 R, 3 BB, SB; Dylan Gasner, 1-for-5, R, BB; Nik Gasner, 3-for-5, 3 RBIs; Jordan Hart, 0-for-2, R, 3 BBs; Zach Huntley, 1-for-4, RBI, 2 R; Steven Clennon, 3-for-3, RBI, R, BB, SB; Ethan Horstmann, 2-for-5, RBI, 3 R; Kempen, 1-for-5, double, RBI; Alex Ciola, 0-for-1, BB, HBP, 2 R; Jason Stoulil, 0-for-2; Nate Conner, 0-for-1; Brady McDermott, 0-for-1
