MANKATO — Mankato Post 11 National struck early and often Thursday night at Wolverton Field, downing Mankato Post 11 American 11-3 in a South Central Legion League game.
Derek Quame collected three hits and drove in three runs as National improved to 11-4 and 5-1 in the SCLL. Quame’s smacked a two-run double to trigger a four-run first frame for the winners.
“I saw the ball good and they were pretty much fastballs down the middle,” Quame said. “Any starting pitcher can get on a roll so the quick start was important for us.
“They mixed it up pretty well the first time, but we saw it coming better today, and I think we were a little more fired up. We hit the ball pretty good off both their starter and relief pitcher.”
American (5-12, 0-6) committed six errors and quickly fell behind 9-1 after three innings. Dan Larsen’s monstrous solo home run over the scoreboard in right-center field made it 5-0 before back-to-back singles from Zach Woodside and Britt Vaubel helped produce an American run in the top of the third.
National countered with another four-run burst in its third at-bat off American starter Griffin Kozitza. Singles from Ryan Willaert and Mitch Kleist, along with a walk to Luke Weber, loaded the bases with no outs. Three miscues and an RBI single from Quame followed.
“Mistakes always hurt you, and we made way too many mistakes to win this game,” American coach Ben Smith said. “It was just one of those nights for us defensively.”
Weber ran into some control problems in the fourth inning, allowing two runs on bases-loaded walks to Woodside and Vaubel. Tyler Swanson ripped a double, and Taylor Ries singled in the surge.
Seth Allan pitched two scoreless innings in relief before Larsen struck out two over the final inning. Kleist laced two singles for the winners while Swanson and Ries led American with two hits apiece.
“We wanted to come out and jump on these guys right away,” Kleist said. “We weren’t real happy with our performance the first time we played them. We wanted to get up early and then keep it going. I was just trying to put the ball in play and not do anything special.”
National coach Jamie Mulvihill liked his teams’ overall performance and the way things are coming around.
“Everyone was on their toes ready to go,” he said. “We were pretty solid one through nine, and we’ve been meshing better lately. Our bats are starting to come around, and we’re playing better defense.”
Both teams are in action Monday, with National playing at Fairmont and American hosting New Ulm Blue.
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