The Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team has discovered the winning edge and it’s not letting go.

Austin clinched at least a top-3 seed in the First District tournament when it swept Faribault by scores of 10-4 and 9-8 in Marcusen Park Tuesday.

Austin (16-8 overall), which has won seven games in a row, had to show a lot of perseverance to win the nightcap. Post 91 trailed 8-7 going into the bottom of the seventh when it tied the game on an RBI single by Steven Clennon. Austin won the game when Daniel Bollingberg hit a bases loaded fly ball to right field that was caught for the second out of the game, but Faribault’s right fielder threw the ball over their catcher’s head to allow the winning run.

“We did what we had to do,” Austin head coach Joe Kroc said. “The way we’re playing right now we’re a pretty confident bunch.”

Austin opened the seventh on a strong note as Ethan Horstmann lined a single to left field and Zach Huntley delivered a hit-and-run single to right field to set up Clennon’s RBI. Nate Conner bunted for a single to load the bases with no outs.

Austin had led 7-0 early on, but Faribault clawed back into the game and it took an 8-7 lead in the top of the seventh on a throwing error by Austin. Clennon, who picked up the win in relief, said the team wasn’t fazed after losing its big lead.

“We’re never going to give up the fight,” he said. “We came in the dugout and fired each other up. We stayed together as a team.”

Nik Gasner delivered a three-run double off of the left field wall to put Austin up 7-0 in the fourth inning, but Post 91’s bats quieted down after that.

“I was thinking if he threw it down the middle I was going to try and put a good swing on it and hopefully put it over the fence,” Gasner said of his double.

Kroc felt Austin continued to have good at-bats after the fast start, but Post 91’s luck just took a turn for the worse.

“I thought we had really good approaches and I thought we took good swings,” he said. “But that’s baseball, you line it out to center and line it out right.”

Austin rolled to a big win in the first game. It took the game over with a six-run second inning that saw Jordan Hart single in a pair of runs. Ethan Horstmann had three RBIs in the win and Gasner picked up the win on the mound.

Gasner said that Austin’s squad has learned how to win after a spring season that saw the Packers finish 4-14 overall.

“It has a lot to do with confidence,” Gasner said. “I know during school ball season we didn’t a lot of had confidence in winning. Now it’s a totally different story. We go into every game thinking we can win and it seems to be working for us.”

Austin will host Owatonna in a Non-District game Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Marcusen Park and it will begin the District playoffs next Tuesday. Austin could be the No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed depending on what Rochester Century and Rochester Mayo do with their remaining contests.

Faribault 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 — 4 11 4

Austin 0 6 0 3 1 0 X — 10 11 0

Austin pitching: Nik Gasner (W) 5 IP, 8 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, 3 K; Steven Clennon, 2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 2 K

Austin hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 1-for-3, R, SB, HBP; Dylan Gasner, 2-for-3, 2 R, BB, SB; Nik Gasner, 1-for-3, R, BB; Jordan Hart, 2-for-2, double, 2 RBIs, 2 R, SB, BB; Ethan Horstmann, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, R; Zach Huntley, 1-for-3, RBI, BB; Nate Conner, 1-for-2, SB, BB; Clennon, 1-for-4, R, SB; Isaac Schumacher, 0-for-4, R, SB; Jacob Kempen, HBP; Brady McDermott, 0-for-1

Faribault 0 0 2 4 0 0 2 — 8 12 1

Austin 3 4 0 0 0 0 2 — 9 10 2

Austin pitching: Schumacher, 5 1/3 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 6 ER, 5 K, 1 HBP; Clennon (W) 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 ER

Austin hitting: Bollingberg, 1-for-4, 2 R, BB; Dylan Gasner, 1-for-2, R, SB, 2 BBs; Nik Gasner, 1-for-3, double, 3 RBIs, 2 R, BB; Hart, 1-for-4, R, RBI, BB; Horstmann, 1-for-4, RBI, R; Huntley, 1-for-3, RBI, BB; Clennon, 2-for-3, 2 RBIs, BB; Conner, 2-for-4, triple; Kempen, 0-for-3, R, BB; McDermott, R