Teams travels to Antigo for tournament this weekend
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The East Troy Post 188 16U Junior Legion baseball team got off to a bit of a rocky start to open play this week.
But the juniors certainly finished on a high note.
East Troy dropped the first game of the week but bounced back to win its last two, including a 6-4 win Saturday over visiting Burlington.
“This was a great ballgame,” East Troy manager John Wick said. “Both teams played well. A 16U, nine-inning game that gets played in under two and a half hours is unheard of.”
Burlington held a 1-0 lead after the first inning, but the juniors bounced back with three runs of their own to take a 3-1 advantage.
Quinn Erdmann provided the key hit with a two-run single that drove in Kyle Lehman and Andrew Gross.
Erdmann stole second and third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Bakken.
After Burlington cut the deficit in half in the second inning, East Troy’s Austin Daly drove in Erdmann with a sacrifice fly to push the lead back to two at 4-2.
East Troy added single tallies in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Brendan Sullivan scored on a wild pitch, followed by hits by Brett Brandner and Brady Barels that drove in a run in the eighth.
Sullivan pitched six innings, and allowed six hits, one earned run and struck out five.
“Brendan has been lights out his last two trips to the mound,” Wick said. “(Assistant) coach Jimmy Comfort worked on balance with him, and it has been incredible to see the results.”
Michael Rosin relieved Sullivan in the seventh. A double play and a strikeout in the seventh helped him get out of a possible scoring threat.
East Troy traveled to Milwaukee on Tuesday and hosted Delavan-Darien on Wednesday. The juniors travel to Antigo for a two-day tournament this weekend.
Juniors win slugfest
Erdmann stole home with the winning run in a wild, 15-14 victory Thursday over the Racine Dodgers.
East Troy trailed, 14-13 heading into its last at bat. A sacrifice fly by Brandon Bakken that scored Gross tied the game to set up Erdmann’s game-winning stolen base.
“Quinn is incredible on the bases,” Wick said. “He has great speed and instinct.”
East Troy fell behind 4-0 in the first, but knotted things up in the bottom of the frame.
A double by Nate Reyes drove in Erdmann, who had walked and stole second and third, and Bakken, who walked and stole second. Joey Krantz followed with a two-run single to pull the juniors back to even.
East Troy appeared to take control with an eight-run second inning. A combination of walks and hits by Erdmann, Bakken, Austin Daly, Jimmy Taylor, Barels and Gross accounted for all the damage.
“Barels has become a smooth-swinging lefty for us,” Wick said. “He’s been giving quality at bats all summer.”
Racine rallied back, however, and pulled within two runs at 13-11 and eventually took the lead at 14-13 before the juniors late-inning rally gave them the win.
East Troy’s Matt Kisting picked up the win in relief of Gross.
The juniors opened play with a 16-6 loss at the Racine Bombers last Tuesday.
Hits by Lehman, Jake Hannah, Bakken, Rosin and Daly helped the Eat Troy to an early 4-0 lead.
But it didn’t last, as Racine pulled within one at 4-3 and then pushed eight runs across the plate in the bottom of the second to pull away.
“That (inning) was brutal,” Wick said. “Rosin was throwing well and should have gotten out of that inning without allowing a run. Eight unearned runs won’t win many games.”
Ten of Racine’s 16 runs were unearned.
Lehman, Hannah, Bakken and Gross each had two hits, while Brandner had a triple, to lead the juniors’ offense
