EDINA — The Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team opened state tournament play with its most dramatic win of the season in Edina Friday.

Austin, which will play again at state in Edina 7 p.m. tonight, scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to stun North Saint Paul 7-6 in the first round.

Austin struggled at the plate as it struck out 12 times and had just five hits in the first seven innings, but when North Saint Paul made a pitching change in the bottom of the eighth, things changed vastly.

“That pitcher shut us down for the majority of the game and having a new guy gave us confidence,” Austin’s Daniel Bollingberg said. “You don’t know exactly what to expect, but you know it’s not the same guy who shut you down for seven straight innings.”

Bollingberg eventually delivered the go-ahead RBI single with two outs to put Post 91 ahead for good. Austin drew four walks in the eighth inning and Nik Gasner, Nate Conner and Isaac Schumacher all knocked in a run by drawing a free pass.

Conner picked up the mound win in relief as he pitched two and two-thirds shutout innings.

“I’m not really a pitcher, but today I felt good. It’s a great time to feel good,” Conner said. “I felt like a pitcher and I hit spots.”

Bollingberg felt a sense of redemption by knocking in the late run. He was thrown out at third base while running from second base on a ball that Jordan Hart hit to the outfield in what could’ve been a big fourth inning for Post 91. Austin mustered just one run in that frame on an RBI single by Nik. Conner and Dylan Gasner were each robbed of RBI hits on diving plays by North Saint Paul.

“Knowing we were down three and getting thrown out at third was a pretty bad feeling,” Bollingberg said. “Getting up there [in the ninth] and knowing that the worst we could do was go into the ninth inning tied just took a lot of pressure off of me.”

Austin struggled with the velocity of North Saint Paul’s starting pitcher, but he was also able to keep Post 91 hitters off-balanced.

“I couldn’t see the curve ball spin at well and it was tough to see the speed difference,” Conner said. “He mixed it up well.”

NSP 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 —  6 12 2

Austin 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 X — 7 7 3

Austin pitching: Nik Gasner, 6 1/3 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 6 R, 4 ER, 3 K; Nate Conner (W) 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K

Austin hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 2-for-3, RBI, R, BB; Alex Ciola, 1-for-3, 2 R, HBP; Jordan Hart, 1-for-4, R; Nik Gasner, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs, R; Conner, 0-for-3, RBI, R, BB; Dylan Gasner, 2-for-4; Ethan Horstmann, 1-for-4, RBI; Jacob Kempen, 0-for-2; Isaac Schumacher, 0-for-3, RBI, BB; Jake Reinartz, 0-for-1, BB