Hulne: Post 91 baseball team has put itself in a solid position
Published 9:19 pm Monday, July 6, 2015
The Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team may be playing a marathon schedule that has seen them play 22 games in 28 days, but they’re also picking up steam like a freight train.
Austin, which has an overall record of 19-3, has outscored its opponents by a total score of 168-69 this season and it is having one of its best baseball summers in a long time.
The squad is loaded with a solid pitching staff that has seven hurlers who have an ERA of less than 2.50. Alex Ciola, who is 3-0 with a save and an ERA of 1.07 and Isaac Schumacher, who is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.22, are pitching as well as they have in their entire baseball careers and the team also has two legitimate big-game pitchers in Daniel Bollingberg and Nik Gasner.
At the plate, Austin has eight players hitting better than .300. Gasner is hitting .485, Nate Conner is hitting .468, Bollingberg is hitting .438 and Jordan Hart is hitting .410.
Post 91 also has more depth than it ever has had in years past as all 17 players on the team have played in at least six games.
While it’s nice rack up stats and win a lot of games in the regular season, Post 91 has its sights set on big things this season. The team has a chance of getting to the state Legion baseball tournament, and with just two weeks left in the regular season it’s time for the squad to focus on preparing itself for what it takes to put together a long playoff run.
To continue their winning ways, Austin will have to come ready to play as hard as it can every day and the team will have to find a way to stay focused, even on days when they’re expecting to win. If the team starts to look to far ahead, it may be looking back with regret.
Post 91 has certainly set the stage for a strong finish this year. It’ll be interesting to see if it can finish the job.
Austin will play six more games this week, and it’ll be able to wind down next week with just three games before it begins the District playoffs July 21.