The Austin VFW Post 1216 baseball team was able to recover from a nightmare inning to bounce back and pick up a 19-9 win in six innings over Red Wing in Marcusen Park Thursday.

Austin (10-2 overall) was leading 8-2 in the top of the fifth when Red Wing scored seven straight unearned runs with two outs to take a 9-8 lead. The inning finally came to an end after Austin second baseman Josi Bothun, who was hit by an errant throw on the previous play, made a running catch on a pop fly.

Post 1216 bounced back quickly in the bottom of the fifth inning when Ross Young bunted in a run, Holden Londino-Green drew a bases loaded walk, and Tony Ciola and Luke Hawkshead each drove in a run.

“We saw some really nice highs in our performance, but we also saw some lows that I haven’t seen from our team this year,” Austin head coach Mark Conner said. “I told them the biggest thing to take away from today’s game was how they worked as a team and they picked one another up, even through a seven run inning. I knew we’d come back, but to pick one another up and embrace one another, that says a lot about this team.”

Young had a huge day at the plate for Post 1216 as he went five-for-five with a double and four RBIs. Young had three base hits on bunts and that’s something that he’s been working on lately.

“When we work in the cage, my main focus is getting the bunts down and I just try to beat them out,” Young said.

Jake Lunt picked up the win in relief by forcing the pop out in the fifth and Nate Murphy picked up the save by pitching a scoreless sixth inning. Young said Austin was able to keep its cool, despite watching Red Wing storm back into the game.

“We just had to stay focused, keep it out of our heads and go get the next one,” Young said. “We’re playing as a team now and in the beginning it was kind of spread out.”

Red Wing 0 0 2 0 7 0 — 9 5 2

Austin 1 3 0 4 4 7 — 19 15 3

Austin pitching: Jack Dankert 3 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 R, 3 K; Riley Retterath, 1 2/3 IP, 5 BB, 5 R, 0 ER; Hunter Johnson, 0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 0 ER; Jake Lunt (W) 1/3 IP, 0 R; Nate Murphy (S) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 HBP

Austin hitting: Dankert, 1-for-1; Riley Wempner, 3-for-5, 3 RBIs, 3 R, BB; Ross Young, 5-for-5, double, 4 RBIs, SB, 3 R; Josi Bothun, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Holden Londino-Green, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs, R, 2 BBs; Hunter Guyette, 0-for-1, R, BB; Pete Conner, 0-for-3, RBI; Luke Hawkshead, 2-for-4, RBI, BB; Michael O’Connor, 1-for-3, RBI, 2 BBs, R; AJ Mueller, 2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 2 R, HBP; Retterath, 0-for-1; Lunt, R, BB; Tony Ciola, 0-for-1, RBI, R; Jaxon Bell, RBI, 2 R, 2 BBs