It was a two man effort for the Austin Post 91 baseball team in a 3-1 win over the Rochester Eagles Monday at Marcusen Park.

Adam Hemann shut down the Eagles’ hitters and John Kirby provided the offense for Austin.

Kirby drilled a 3-2 fast ball over the left field fence to put Post 91 (6-15 overall) up 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning and Hemann retired three straight batters in the seventh to end the contest.

“I was hoping they would throw to me,” said Kirby, who was three-for-three and also homered in the fourth inning. “I swung for the fences on a first pitch curve ball and then I kind of settled down a little bit. When it got to 3-2, I figured they had to throw a fast ball because they didn’t want to put two guys on base with (Mark) Harber coming up behind me.”

Hemann hit a one out double over the left fielder’s head right before Kirby’s blast and he reached third base on a wild pitch.

“I just watched the curve ball and waited for one. I finally got some good contact,” said Hemann.

The Eagles tied the game at one in the top of the sixth when the first two hitters of the inning reached on Austin errors. Hemann forced two pop outs before David Keeney came up with a two-out single on a hit-and-run to score a run.

“(Adam) just got out of it,” Kirby said. “He’s throwing really hard and his fast ball’s got a lot of hop on it right now.”

Hemann struck out seven while walking none and allowing just four hits. Most of his strikeouts came on a low breaking curve ball.

“My curve ball was working well, so I just stuck with it,” Hemann said.

Hemann has come on strong as of late for Post 91, which will play at Waseca Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“The last two or three times Adam has pitched, he’s thrown well,” Stratton said. “The main thing with Adam is him keeping his composure and he’s done that very well his last three times out.”

Austin won, despite letting some early oppurtunities slip away.

Post 91 had the bases loaded with one out in the second inning, but Jacob Hines hit into a double play. In the third, Mike Tindal led off with a bunt single, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout by Andrew Orcutt, but Austin couldn’t advance him.

“The same bugaboo we’ve had all year is still with us. We left a couple of runners on early,” Stratton said. “But we knew that coming into the season, we weren’t a good hitting team. We have good hitters but we just don’t have enough of them.”

The District Tournament starts Sunday night with a play-in round and first round games start next Tuesday. Austin may have to play Sunday night, depending on where they finish in the seedings.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Eagles 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0

Austin 0 0 0 1 0 2 X 3 7 2

Austin pitching: Adam Hemann (W), 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 7 K

Austin hitting: Andrew Orcutt, 0-for-3; Steven Rizzi, 1-for-3; Joel Swatfager, 0-for-2, BB; Hemann, 1-for-2, double, R; John Kirby, 3-for-3, 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, 2 R; Mark Harber, 1-for-2, BB; Dylan Monson, 0-for-2; Jacob Hines, 0-for-2; Mike Tindal, 1-for-1, SB; Adam McMasters, 0-for-1

Eagles pitching: Eric Bieniek (L), 6 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 1 HBP, 5 K

Eagles hitting: Nick Schroeberl, 1-for-4; Nick Heimer, 1-for-4; Todd Bestgen, 0-for-3; Tom Schroeder, 0-for-3; Ricky Devorak, 0-for-3; Bieniek, 1-for-3; David Keeney, 1-for-3, RBI; Will Johnson, 0-for-2; Brett Dennis, 0-for-2