PRINT ADS

Holmen's American Legion basetball team went 3-2 at last weekend's Viroqua tournament, including winning its final two games over Viroqua and Westby, while extending its winning streak to three games with a 12-11, walk-off win over Bi-State Monday.

Holmen got its win over Viroqua with four runs in the bottom of the seventh in an 8-7 decision. Jordan Vaaler's RBI double to center drove in Jarrod Bock and got the Legion within 7-5, before Ben Squier and Nick Salinas scored when Shane Peterson reached on a throwing error by pitcher Mark Swenson that forged a 7-7 tie.

Holmen won despite striking out in the next two at-bats. On the second at-bat, Ross Jenks struck out for the apparent third out, but Jenks reached and Peterson scored on a dropped third strike.

The Legion broke open a 5-5 tie through three innings with Westby with eight runs in the top of the fourth in a 16-7 decision. Bock's two-run double to center put Holmen up 8-5, with Levi Adank's base-clearing double extending the lead to 12-5. Jarod Dayton, Salinas and Jenks added RBI singles in the rally.

Trey Candahl scored four runs, while Jenks, Mitch Peterson, Adank and Salinas all scored twice each.

“We hit the ball well all weekend,” Legion head coach Duane Vike said.

Cory Schlagel earned the win. He relieved Vaaler to start the second, and allowed three earned runs over the next five innings.

Holmen's offense prowess continued into Monday's game with Bi-State, Luther High School's Legion team. The Legion pounded out 14 hits, including RBI singles from Drew King, Salinas and Dayton in a three-run second that broke a 1-1 tie. King also had an RBI single in a four-run third that allowed Holmen to take an 8-1 lead.

But Bi-State scored five times in the fifth and sixth to get within 8-6, and followed with five more runs in the top of the seventh to forge an 11-11 tie. Holmen won the game in the seventh on Adank's two-out, bases-loaded single to the fence in right center. King began the inning with his third base hit and scored the game-winning run.

Zach Mally earned the win, keeping Bi-State off-balance for the first four-plus innings, before giving way to Matt Price. The senior-to-be shows lots of promise as a power pitcher with a live fastball and 12-to-6 curve ball, but also tired quickly in his second inning of work before giving way to Jenks.

“He's got lots of potential,” Vike said of Price. “We've got lots of guys with potential.”

Holmen hurt itself by failing to get at least two outs on fairly routine ground balls to second in the first four batters of the seventh. leaving the bases loaded with nobody out and an 11-7 game instead of two outs with runners at second and third an an 11-6 game. The Legion committed four errors, all in the infield, bringing back recollections of the high school team that struggled defensively. The infielder who shows the strongest arm and the most defensive potential is Candahl, though he made an error on a fairly routine play in the fourth.

“He's played just about every inning for us at shortstop,” Vike said. “We're working with him on making the routine play more consistently.”

Holmen opened at Viroqua with a 14-3 win over Tomah, breaking a 2-2 tie with 10 runs in the bottom of the third.