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Fergus Falls American Legion Post 30 hosted Brainerd in a District double header on Wednesday night with Fergus Falls winning the nightcap, 7-4, after having been beaten in the opener, 11-5. Post 30 continues District play in DL on Thursday before the 4th of July break.
Brainerd jumped ahead early in the first game, scoring 6 runs in the top of the first inning. The first three men reached via walks and Brainerd followed with 3 consecutive hits and an error. Post 30 answered back with two runs in the bottom of the first to make it 6-2. Brainerd added two runs in the second and three in the fourth to push the score to 11-5. Post 30 threatened in the late innings, but couldn’t find the big hit to tighten the game.
“We had a very poor first inning that really set the tone for the game,” commented Head Coach Trevor Larson. “You can’t give teams’ free passes and fall behind constantly in the counts. Credit the boys for battle back and trying to claw back into the game.”
Game one hitting leaders were Evan Lindgren (2-4), Ethan Gronwold (2-4), Owen Krueger (1-3, RBI) and Ben Swanson (1-4, RBI). Sammy Holmes, JR, came on in relief of Riston Albert and did a great job of throwing strikes. In six innings he struck out 3, walked one, allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs. Brandon Brown threw a scoreless 7th inning.
Ethan Gronwold (6.2IP, 4R, 3ER, 4H, 1BB, 4K) started on the mound in game two and was one out away from a complete game as he recorded the win. Owen Krueger came in for the save with two outs in the 7th. Leading hitters for Post 30 were Lindgren (2-3, 2B, 3R) and Gronwold (3-4, 2RBI).
Lindgren reached base when he was hit by a pitch, stole second and came home on a clutch 2-our RBI single by Ben Swanson, giving Fergus Falls a 1-0 lead, which they held until the bottom of the fifth inning when Post 30 pushed across 5 runs to expand their lead to 6-0. Brock Scheurman added a 2-run single and Brainerd threatened in the 7th, scoring three times.
“Game two was all about Ethan on the mound,” stated Coach Larson. “He was in control from the get go and was up counts all night long, keeping hitters off balance. Ethan has progressed so much over the last year and is someone we look to on the mound. We had lots of good at bats throughout both games and our defense played much better in game two.”