Post 354 misses out on state bid with regional runner-up finish
The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau American Legion Post 354 baseball team made it to the final day of regionals but wound up two wins shy of their goal of a state tournament bid.
G-E-T went 2-2 in their four-team Class A regional last week, twice beating Viroqua but twice losing to host Westby as the latter nabbed the regional title and the lone state bid up for grabs.
Prior to regional play, Post 354 ended their regular-season schedule with a doubleheader split against the Gay Mills Post 308/220 Grizzlies last Monday. G-E-T dropped the first game 11-5 before winning the second 11-1 in four innings.
Post 354 finished the summer with a winning record at 12-11, as their pursuit of the 19U team’s first-ever state tournament berth waits for another year.
G-E-T 10 Viroqua 6
After allowing a three-run lead fall by the wayside against the 138ers, Post 354 used an extra-inning eruption to finally finish off the victory last Thursday in Westby.
G-E-T led 5-2 through four innings, including RBI singles courtesy of Mitchell Thell and Calvin Davis in the second and fourth innings, respectively. Viroqua scored a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh to tie the score and force extras.
In the top of the eighth, Nathan Holthaus clobbered a three-run home run to left to ignite a five-run rally that also featured a Dierks Haney RBI single and a Logyn Gamez RBI double.
The 138ers scored a run in the bottom half of the inning but could not manufacture a matching rally to send the game any further.
Thell and Davis each had a pair of hits for Post 354.
Westby 10 G-E-T 9
With a run already home and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, G-E-T was in prime position to either tie the game against Westby/Coon Valley or win in a walk-off. However, the Bandits escaped with a lead still intact to polish off a one-run win this past Friday.
Trailing 7-3, Post 354 briefly leapt ahead with a five-run rally in the bottom of the third that included Adain Busch’s RBI single and Thell’s two-run single. The Bandits eventually pulled back ahead 10-8, leaving G-E-T with work to do in the bottom of the seventh.
Two Bandit errors allowed a run to score, and Post 354 eventually loaded the bases with two outs for Busch, who hit a shallow fly ball that was secured for the final out.
Thell went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs while Brode Eiken finished 2 for 4 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
G-E-T 6 Viroqua 3
An offensive punch at both the start and end of the game allowed G-E-T to bounce back on Friday for another win over Viroqua.
Post 354 came out strong with three runs in the top of the first, with Davis hitting an RBI single and Gamez drawing a bases-loaded walk during that inning. The 138ers chipped away and eventually evened the score at 3-3 going into the final two innings.
G-E-T had the last word with three final runs to take the lead for good — RBI singles by Thell and Holthaus in the sixth and a Thell sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Busch and Thell each tallied two hits in the victory. Caiden Brady got the win after throwing four scoreless innings in relief in which he worked around three hits, five walks and a hit batter to keep Viroqua off the board.
Westby 15 G-E-T 2
Needing to beat the Bandits twice in a row on Saturday in order to capture the regional title and advance to state, Post 354 got off on the right foot with two runs in the top of the first. But from that point forward, it was all Westby/Coon Valley as they wrapped up the regional title with a five-inning win at Veterans Memorial Field.
G-E-T loaded the bases with no outs in the first and Holthaus delivered by smacking a two-run single to center for the early lead. However, Post 354 could scrounge up just one more hit the rest of the way against Bandit pitcher William Keenlance and didn’t score again.
The Bandits, on the other hand, put up six runs in the bottom of the second, two more runs in the third and a seven-run rally in the fourth.
Holthaus had half his team’s hits by going 2 for 2 with his two RBIs.
