Up and down Highland Legion uses late surge to down Trenton Post 778
In what has been an inconsistent early part of the 2023 summer baseball season, the Highland Post 439 Senior Legion team turned the momentum in their direction with a positive outing Wednesday, June 21.
A Joey Kunz two-run double put Highland ahead to stay in the bottom of the fifth and Post 439 tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the sixth, rolling to a 10-6 win over Trenton Post 778 at Glik Park.
It was a nice bounce-back win for Post 439 (4-6), which got blanked by the Aviston Express 6-0 on Tuesday, June 20.
“It was good to come out and (hit well). We’ve had Aviston in three of our 10 games and they’ve got the best pitching around ... and that was one Trenton’s better pitchers (we faced), so it was good to be able to get to him,” Highland coach Todd Kunz said.
Highland scored two runs in the bottom of the first to grab an early lead.
Trenton got a run back in the top of the second on an Ian Henderson single and then tied it 2-2 in the top of the fourth on Jack Herndon’s RBI single to center field.
In the bottom of the fifth, Post 439 starting pitcher Joey Kunz put Highland ahead to stay, lacing a two-run single to right-center.
“It was a big at-bat because we scored two runs there,” Joey Kunz said. “I was just trying to stay back on the pitch and hit it up the middle.”
Trenton answered with a run on Herndon’s run-scoring single, cutting the lead to 5-3.
Post 439 broke through on Trenton starter Seth Woodall, erupting for five runs as Tyson Kunz ripped a two-run single and Joey Kunz raked a two-run double to highlight the sixth-inning fireworks.
Tyson Kunz powered Highland’s 10-hit attack with three hits while Joey Kunz had two hits and four RBI.
Post 778 scored three runs in the top of the seventh but reliever Colton Bultema shut the door and preserved the win for Highland.
Todd Kunz is hopeful the win will get Post 439 trending back in the right direction after a rollercoaster first half of the season.
“That’s the hope that you get the monkey off your back a little bit from having some rough outings. We had a good tournament we played in last weekend (at Trenton) and we had a little bit of a rough game the last game with no catcher (available). That’s kind of the way summer ball goes,” Todd Kunz said.
Looking ahead
According to Todd Kunz, the key to more consistency in the second half of the season will be getting players settled into roles that help the club have steady success.
“For me, it’s figuring out who will play where and who’s my better pitchers. And then offensively if we can put some things together and forge how to piece a lineup together where the hitters are comfortable and where your run production is going to be best ... and we’re starting to figure those things out,” Todd Kunz said.
This story was originally published June 21, 2023 at 11:16 PM.