Legion baseball: Eau Claire slugs past La Crosse in postseason debut
Jul. 20—The smile on Mark Faanes' face after the Eau Claire Pizza Hut Post 53 19U Legion baseball team beat La Crosse 10 — 6 Tuesday evening at Carson Park spoke volumes about how he felt about his team's regional victory over a good team.
"It was a good win, La Crosse is a great team," Faanes said. "We came out and Henry (Wilkinson) did a great job on the mound for us, and we swung the bats pretty well. I thought their home run in the second inning (was a surprise), but then Dylan O'Connell really kind of ignited our offense, and we started pouring it on after that."
O'Connell's third-inning home run dropped just outside the left-field fence, and drove in a pair of runs to change the scoreboard from 1-1 to 3 — 1 in Eau Claire's favor.
Gabe Richardson drove in another run in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 4-1 for Eau Claire.
In the bottom of the fourth Sam Feck watched his first pitch go by for a called strike and then watched Richardson jog home on a passed ball to give Eau Claire a 4-run advantage.
Eau Claire (17-13) earned the right to face Chippewa Falls at 2 p.m. on Wednesday at Carson Park.
"We play another good opponent in Chippewa Falls, and we'll see how that one goes," Faanes said. He also pointed out the Tuesday game was one step in the direction of winning a regional championship, and eventually going to state.
La Crosse appeared to be mounting a rally in the top of the seventh, when it added three runs to its score. The Eau Claire squad stepped quietly out of the dugout after the third out was called for the inning to line up and shake hands with the La Crosse team. Both squads appeared to interact positively, and as good sportsmen. In short, though the lost probably carried a bit of a sting for La Crosse, there were no outward signs of hard feelings against Eau Claire.
Tomah and Superior open Wednesday's action at 11 a.m. at Carson Park. The winner of that game will face La Crosse at 6 p.m. at Bollinger Fields.
Wilkinson was credited with the game win, but Faanes pulled him out after 106 pitches, and replaced him with Will Thibodeau.
The regional tournament continues throughout the week at Carson Park, with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Sheboygan next week.
