The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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Mulvihill Legion Baseball Tournament

Friday's results
Prior Lake 3, Litchfield 0
Viroqua (Wis.) 3, Mankato 2
Apple Valley 7, Litchfield 3
Viroqua 22, Austin 6
Bloomington Gold 6, Mankato 3
Apple Valley 11, New Ulm Blue 2

Saturday’s games
Austin vs. Mankato, 9:30 a.m., Franklin Rogers Park.
New Ulm Blue vs. Prior Lake 10:30 a.m., Wolverton Field.
Austin vs. Bloomington Gold, noon, FRP.
Litchfield vs. New Ulm Blue, 1 p.m., Wolverton.
Viroqua vs. Bloomington Gold, 2:30 p.m., FRP.
Apple Valley vs. Prior Lake, 3:30 p.m., Wolverton.

Sunday's games
Two fourth-place finishers, 9 a.m., Wolverton.
Two second-place finishers, 9:30 a.m., FRP.
Two third-place finishers, 11:30 a.m., Wolverton.
Two first-place finishers, noon, FRP.

Related Photos

  • Viroqua's Derek Schultz gets back to first base ahead of the throw to Mankato National's Drew Quame during their game Friday at Wolverton Field. Pat Christman

    Legion Natl basebl6-23.jpg

June 23, 2012

Mankato Legion National Post 11 plagued by spotty defense

Mankato falls twice at Jim Mulvihill Memorial

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — It’s not hard to figure out what’s ailing the Mankato Legion National Post 11 baseball team. All it takes is a gander at the defensive stats.

“We’ve made 20 errors in our last four games,” head coach Jamie Mulvihill said Friday. “It’s hard to win with that kind of defense.”

Fielding was again the problem Friday in the opening rounds of the annual Jim Mulvihill Memorial Tournament — named after Jamie’s father who was a longtime Legion coach in town. National allowed three unearned runs in the first game against Viroqua and lost 3-2. Mankato then allowed three more unearned runs against Bloomington Gold and lost 6-3.

“It’s been a struggle for us on defense,” Mankato starting pitcher Zach Mullin said after the loss to Bloomington. “We just haven’t put it together out in the field yet. If we can get that fixed we can start winning some games.”

Mullin threw the first six innings against Bloomington and pitched well. The left-hander allowed no earned runs on six hits, walked one, struck out three and hit one batter.

He started to cramp up in the sixth but finished the inning with the score tied 3-3. Bloomington wasted no time jumping on reliever Brandon Kowalski in the seventh. The Gold squad parlayed a hit batsman, two sacrifices, two walks, a pair of singles and a two-run triple by Kris Ashland into the winning three-run rally.

Mankato went down in order in the bottom half of the inning to end the game.

Post 11 trailed 3-0 after half an inning but clawed its way back into the contest with a solo run in the first and two runs in the fourth.

In the fourth, Drew Quame and Shane Sellner led off with back-to-back doubles. Quame scored on Sellner’s hit and Sellner’s courtesy runner eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Kowalski finished 2 for 2 to lead Mankato’s five-hit attack. Ashland led Bloomington Gold with two hits and three RBIs. Teammate Montana Schowalter was 3 for 3 with one RBI.

Zach Bakko got the win in relief, pitching 1 1/3 innings without allowing a baserunner. Kowalski took the loss.

In the first-game loss to Viroqua, Mankato’s Colin Risting scattered eight hits without allowing an earned run to come out on the losing end of the 3-2 score. He struck out one and walked one.

Mullin had an RBI single in the seventh to close the gap to one run but Mankato was unable to tie it up.

“Colin pitched a great game for us but we didn’t give him any support,” coach Mulvihill said. “We just need to start making plays.”

The Nationals (0-5) will get the chance to make some plays at 9:30 a.m. this morning when they take on Austin at Franklin Rogers Park in their final game of pool play. 

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