Austin Post 1216 gets a split, will play elimination game Sunday

Published 7:50 pm Saturday, July 22, 2017

The Austin Post 1216 VFW baseball team experienced a major surge and then it suffered a letdown as it opened the Sub-District tournament with a split with Rochester Century in Marcusen Park Saturday. Austin won the first game 6-5 and then it lost the second contest 6-4.
Post 1216 will now play an elimination game against Century 11 a.m. Sunday.
Austin saw a two-run lead disappear in the top of the seventh inning of the opener, but it bounced back to win when Tony Ciola came up with a two-out, walk-off RBI in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Austin VFW Post 1216’s Michael O’Connor pitches in the second inning of their playoff game against Rochester Century Saturday afternoon at Marcusen Park. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

“I was excited, I wanted the opportunity to walk it off,” Ciola said of his game-winning hit. “We had a lot of energy in the first game and in the second game we came out flat.”
Austin trailed the second game 6-1 before Michael O’Connor knocked in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Austin had runners on second, but it couldn’t complete the rally.
Austin head coach Joe Ciola said the team will have to regoup and come out strong Sunday.
“It’s just baseball. Everything happens and nothing really surprises me,” Ciola said. “We had our ups and downs, and we just need to put our downs behind us and come out with energy tomorrow.”
Century 0 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 – 5 3 3
Austin 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 – 6 11 3
Austin pitching: Michael O’Connor 4 1/3 IP, 8 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 K; Nate Murphy (W) 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 K
Austin hitting: Riley Wempner, 1-for-5, RBI, R, SB; O’Connor, 0-for-3, R, BB; Drew Copley, 3-for-4, RBI, R, BB; AJ Mueller, 2-for-5; Isaac Arjes, 2-for-5; Tony Ciola, 2-for-5, 2 RBIs; Nate Murphy, 1-for-4, RBI; Bryce Strouf, 0-for-2, SB, 2 BBs; Adam Schumacher, 1-for-3, 2 SB, R, BB
Century 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 – 6 9 0
Austin 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 – 3 5 2
Austin pitching: Drew Copley (L) 5 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 ER, 6 K; Bryce Strouf, 2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 R, 0 ER
Austin hitting: Wempner, 1-for-4; O’Connor, 1-for-2, 2 RBIs, 2 BBs; Copley, 1-for-3, HBP; Mueller, 0-for-4; Arjes, 0-for-4; Ciola, 0-for-3; Murphy, 1-for-3; Strouf, 0-for-2, R, BB; Schumacher, 1-for-1, 2 R, 2 BBs; Zach Bollingberg, 0-for-1

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