Posen?s three-game winning streak powered by good pitching and solid hitting
The Posen baseball team rebounded from a shaky early season start to win three in a row, including a sweep of St. Ignace Monday at home, 7-6 and 6-1. The Vikings split with Fairview last Thursday and had a chance to take two, but let the game slip away in the final inning of the opener. On the strength of a terrific pitching outing by sophomore Brandon Hentkowski, the Vikings played solid ball and defeated the Eagles 9-1 and haven’t lost since.
Posen will be on the home field today at 4 p.m. for non-league action against Pickford and then take their 1-1 North Star League record into Monday’s home game against Au Gres. Hentkowski got the start Monday against the Saints and struck out the first batter of the game on a called third strike and would rack up seven more through four innings of work. Six of his strikeouts were on called third strikes. “He pitched a great ball game,” said coach Pat Kowalski.
HENTKOWSKI WALKED one batter in the first inning and his only hit came off the bat of the number three hitter, but he struck out the clean-up man. He retired eight Saints in a row before being relieved by senior Nick Goupell, who allowed only one base runner in the final two innings. Led by junior Matt Szczerowski’s three-for-three game, the Viking batters had 10 hits. Szczerowski had a third inning triple sandwiched between two doubles and scored twice. Goupell had two hits and stole a base. Andy Styma, Tony Swan, and Nick Idalski all had a hit and a stolen base.
The defense had no errors. The second game was a wild one with Goupell’s theft of home in the sixth inning giving the Vikings the win. He was two-for-three in the game with two of his three stolen bases coming in the final inning. Goupell led off the inning with a double and stolen third base before coming home with the winning run.
THE SAINTS came out of the blocks hungry for a win with a four-run first, chasing starter Jordan Purol after one-third of an inning, but Hentkowski finished up the first and was part of the comeback in the bottom of the inning as the first four batters got on and eventually scored, leaving the score tied at four.
Two walks and a double by Hentkowski fueled the rally. St. Ignace got one in the top of the second, but was countered again with a run by Swan. The next scoring didn’t come until the fourth, when the Saints got one home on Goupell, but that would be it for the night for St. Ignace, as Goupell tightened the screws with five strikeouts. Idalski got on board and came around to score the tying run in the bottom of the fifth, which set up the dramatic finish.
“I think Matt Szczerowski coming to the plate in the St. Ignace games, our number three hitter, gave us the winning edge,” said Kowalski. The Vikings had 18 hits in the doubleheader. Goupell, who allowed no hits in three innings of work, got
POSEN’S FIRST win of the season was an impressive 9-1 victory over Fairview. Even more impressive is the way the Vikings bounced back from a tough loss in the opener against the Eagles. With the score tied at four, Fairview scored two in the top of the sixth inning to pull ahead. Posen came back with one run in the last inning, and had the tying run 90 feet away, but couldn’t get it home. The game went to Fairview 6-5. Andy Styma had a third inning-homer in the contest. The players didn’t fold up their tents. They instead came out and played their most dominating game of the season.
Hentkowski struck out seven, but the key statistic was he gave up no walks. The only run was scored was in the fourth. Hentkowski also did the damage at the plate with a two-RBI double in the third inning. The bottom of the order got things going for the Vikings in the second inning, leading the way to a six-run frame. Willie Richards was two-for-two with two runs scored. Szczerowski and Goupell both added a pair of hits and scored once.