Legion Baseball: Red Wing wins late against St. Paul Park

Preston Blaney’s first two at-bats for Red Wing didn’t go very well.

In the second inning, Blaney struck out looking and in the fourth inning he struck out swinging.

But with the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Blaney delivered a game-winning RBI single to score David Goggin and give Post 54 a 3-2 win against St. Paul Park Thursday at the Red Wing Athletic Field.

“It comes down to focus,” Blaney said about forgetting his first two at-bats. “Put the ball in play and hopefully good things will happen.”

Red Wing struggled to get anything positive going against Kyle Fritz, who threw a complete game five-hitter for St. Paul Park, but Post 54 took advantage of three errors by St. Paul Park.

“Our bats went pretty silent in those middle innings,” Red Wing head coach Justin Plein said. “Tonight, Preston’s first and second at-bats, struggled a bit. But when he came up in that last inning, we knew he’d get a hit. They learn from previous at-bats. It’s up to them to make those adjustments and they do.”

Fritz allowed one earned run and struck out four.

Erin Foley was the only player with more than one hit for Post 54, finishing 2-for-3, as Fritz fooled Red Wing with a heavy dose of curveballs.

“He spotted it well,” Goggin said. “He changed speeds really well. You never knew what was coming next.”

Andrew Sandstrom, Karsten Lampman and Blaney added one hit apiece for Post 54.

St. Paul Park scored first again Trey Eckstrom in the first inning, stringing three hits in row to plate Andy Sammon and take a 1-0 lead. St. Paul Park almost added another in the inning but Drew Flack was thrown out at home after a fly ball to left field.

Zach Garner walked to start the first inning for Red Wing and after a two-base error by the first baseman, Garner scored on a sacrifice fly by Sandstrom to tie the game at 1-1.

St. Paul Park added another run in the second inning when Fletcher Rheault led off with a single, advanced to second on a single by Russ Damsgard and scored on an error by Post 54.

Red Wing tied it up at 2-2 in the third inning as Sandstrom singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, was moved to third on a ground out by Goggin and scored on another wild pitch.

And after the second inning, Eckstrom was perfect for Post 54, setting down the final 12 batters he faced in order. Goggin said the umpire was giving fastball strikes off the outside corner of the plate and Eckstrom made an adjustment to hit that spot.

“Trey did a great job for us,” Plein said. “We put him out there against a good hitting team. To have (Goggin), that’s a big thing for him. Trey knows (Goggin) knows what he is talking about. As long as he listens to him, we’ll be fine.”

After Goggin walked to start the bottom of the sixth inning, St. Paul Park made an error on a potential double play to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a sacrifice fly by Jack Strusz, Blaney came through with the game-winner.

Carsten Meyer allowed one single in the seventh inning but held onto the lead to get the save for Red Wing

It wasn’t a pretty victory for Post 54, neither team showed much energy or emotion throughout the game, but sometimes a team needs to win despite not playing very well, Goggin said.

“Whatever works,” Goggin said. “We found a way to get it done.”

Red Wing gets a small break before playing July 8th.

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