Post 354 lets bats fly in doubleheader split at La Crosse
Third baseman Ben Hansen looked to the umpire for a call after trying to tag a La Crosse North Star runner early in a Coulee Region Legion baseball game at Logan High School last Thursday. The Red Hawks lost the game 4-3 before winning a second game 7-6. (Times photograph by Benjamin Pierce)
The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Post 354 baseball team hit two home runs last Thursday in a Coulee Region Legion game at Logan High School but fell 4-3 at the hands of the North Stars.
They avenged the loss with a tight 7-6 win in game two, which also saw a Red Hawk home run.
Post 354 hosted Arcadia on Tuesday before visiting West Salem on Thursday. They were scheduled to play in a tournament in Onalaska this weekend.
North Stars 4 Red Hawks 3
The Red Hawks couldn’t secure the final out in the second inning of game one, an effort that saw La Crosse load the bases and bring home three scores in the third inning to take a commanding 4-0 lead.
Post 354 found a way to respond with the deep ball, as a home run from Ben Hansen over the left field fence got the visitors on the board in the fourth inning. Another home run—this one a two-run belt from Owen Eddy in the fifth inning—got the Red Hawks within a run.
But La Crosse cut the rally there, rattling off three straight outs to end the inning and the game.
Five different Red Hawks recorded hits in the effort. Collin Handke got the start, throwing three innings while allowing four hits and four runs. He finished with a trio of strikeouts and walks. Thomas Haney pitched the fourth inning, allowing two hits.
Red Hawks 7 North Stars 6
Game two saw a role reversal as it was Post 354 that had to hold onto a late lead.
La Crosse left the first inning with a 2-1 lead before the Red Hawks cranked out six runs over their next three at-bats. Wild pitches gave the Red Hawks the lead in the third inning, and a three-run Brady Seiling homer pushed that lead even further in the fourth.
Haney came back into the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to close the game after getting the start, earning the final two outs with a strikeout and a pop fly with the bases loaded. Haney allowed two hits while striking out three batters in nearly three innings of work.
Eddy and Warren Stoner split the rest of the game from the mound. Stoner allowed four runs on three hits with a trio of walks and struck out two La Crosse batters.
Seiling paced the Red Hawks with two hits.
