A new night and different finish
Indeed, it was a new night that delivered a fresher outlook June 15 for the Post 334 team, which beat Andover 9-8 in nine innings, then stopped St. Michael Legion 9-1 in consecutive North Hennepin League games at Wintercrest West.
Righthander Ian Andrews threw six masterful innings in the first game against Andover and left with an 8-4 lead. But that zone of comfort wilted under Andover’s seventh-inning attack which turned an apparent win into an 8-8 tie. Clutch relief pitching by Pat Freese, then Will Heiser prevented Andover from stealing the game and set the stage for a last-of-the-ninth walk-off win.
And walk-off it was. Devin Croal, who opened the ninth with a walk, ultimately wound up at third with bases loaded. When Billy Hirschi drew a base on balls, Croal walked on in with the game-winning and ending run. Croal and Mike Latta, who played first, both finished with three hits, while Andrews, Tony Remund and catcher Colton Adams all had two hits. Adams also drove in two runs.
In the second game against St. Michael, Joe Brinda broke open a scoreless tie in the third when he led off the bottom half of that inning with a solo home run over the left field barrier — his first. After that bomb, eight more Post 334 batters came to the plate that produced three more runs. In the fourth, Post 334 scored five more runs with Josh Jensen delivering a two-run single. Meantime, Trevor Daniels had three hits, while Hirschi had two. Hirschi also threw all seven innings to pick up his first win of the summer. He gave up just one hit — a lead off single in the sixth — walked four and struck out four…
Posted: June 17th, 2009