Late inning outbursts carry Post 18 to sweep of Huron
Jun. 22—HURON — With a nine-run sixth inning in Game 1 and a seven-run fifth inning in Game 2, Mitchell Post 18 broke open both contests in the late going to secure a doubleheader sweep of Huron Post 7 on Tuesday.
Post 18 piled up 23 total hits — seven for extra bases — across the two games on its way to 11-1 (6 inn.) and 9-4 victories.
Mitchell carried a 2-1 edge through five innings in Game 1, before its sixth-inning offensive explosion, kicked off by a Jonah Schmidt lead-off triple. Following the first out of the frame, eight straight Post 18 batters reached safely, as Mitchell strung together 13 at-bats in the top of the sixth.
All nine starters in the Post 18 lineup reached base at least once in the contest, led by the first four hitters in the order — Seth Muth, Dylan Soulek, Schmidt and Jake Helleloid — all recording two hits and accounting for six of Mitchell's 11 runs scored.
Helleloid was also the winning pitcher, tossing five innings with six strikeouts to two walks, with Peyton Mandel coming in to close out the sixth inning, in which he struck out two batters.
Seven different Huron players recorded one hit in the contest, though Tyson Lien drove in the lone run. Johnny Hernandez took the loss, having pitched 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Trailing 4-2 entering the fifth inning of Game 2, Jace Larson, Riley McGinnis and Mason Geraets knocked back-to-back-to-back one-out singles to kick start a Post 18 rally. Ultimately, six of seven Mitchell runs crossed with two outs in the frame, capped by consecutive triples off the bats of Soulek and Schmidt that resulted in four total runs.
McGinnis led the Post 18 offense, going 3-for-4 at the plate and scoring thrice, while Lukas Bennett managed two hits, one run batted in and one run scored. Larson picked up the win on the mound as the fourth Post 18 arm of the game, pitching the final three innings with three strikeouts and two walks. Landon Waddell got the start and went two innings, while Peyton Schroder and Geraets each made one-inning relief appearances.
For Huron, Hernandez, Dawsyn Rogers and Peyton Grace each had two hits, as Post 7 collected 10 as a team. Max Kranzler was credited with the loss after relieving starter Layne Wenzel, though he struck out four batters and walked one across 1 2/3 innings.
Mitchell Post 18 (13-6) plays a single game against Sturgis Post 33 on its way to the Hladky Memorial Tournament in Gillette, Wyoming.
