Austin Post 91 baseball team will open District playoffs Tuesday
Published 8:37 pm Monday, July 20, 2015
The Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team is hoping to add a strong postseason run to what was a strong regular season.
Austin (24-5 overall) will open the First District tournament as the top seed as it hosts No. 8 Waseca 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Marcusen Park. Austin was also a top seed in the First District tournament last season and it was knocked off in the Final Four. This year, Post 91 is coming in with a mission to get to the state tournament.
Austin Post 91’s Daniel Bollingberg scores as Waseca’s Jacob Walters looks for the ball earlier this season at Marcusen Park. Herald File Photo
“I think last year we were kind of underdogs even as the top seed,” Austin co-head coach Andy Swank said. “It’s still anybody’s tournament, but I think we’re the best team. We’ve stayed loose all season and as long as the guys can keep that up I don’t think the pressure will be too much for us.”
Austin has been able to stay competitive this season with a strong and deep pitching staff. With a rotation that includes six consistent hurlers, Post 91 maintained a team ERA that hovered around 2.00 this season.
“We’ve been absolutely fantastic [on the mound] all summer,” Swank said. “It’s been our strong suite and I think that’s why maybe we’re the favorites to win it. Not too many teams have five or six guys that they can throw on the mound and get you a win.”
Austin lost 5-3 to Waseca the last time the teams met July 9. Austin co-head coach Joe Kroc doesn’t see that loss as a bad thing and he hopes it showed Post 91 that they have to play hard every night in the postseason.
“It was good to have that taste in your mouth that any team can beat you in any game,” Kroc said. “We’re not good enough to just show up and beat anyone. We’ll take it one game at a time, one pitch at a time and one at bat at time.”
The Post 91 coaches have been pushing their players to be confident in the postseason, after working them hard all regular season. Kroc said the team seems to be finding their groove at the right time.
“We’ve been pretty hard on them all year and we’ve been expecting a lot,” Kroc said. “I think it definitely grinds on them that we’re expecting the most out of them as players. A lot of them have made good adjustments in the last week and a half.”
If Austin wins Tuesday, it will play the winner of Winona and the Rochester’ A’s in Rochester Mayo high School 4 p.m. Tuesday. If Post 91 wins its first three tournament games, it will be in the District Finals, where it would just have to win one of two games to advance to state.
