Legion claws back in game 3
Luke Nierengartin stands in for the pitch against the West St. Paul Legion baseball team Friday night. The Tigers had a rough start to the game but came back later to get within a run in the 6-5 loss. On Sunday the team beat Rogers 14-4 in five innings.
This weekend was a busy one at Mark Park while the field was hosting the 42nd Annual Legion Baseball tournament. There were 12 games in three days and for baseball fans plenty of action to keep you interested.
Home runs were blasted out on all sides in early games Friday with the St. Francis and Monticello game feeling more like a slow-pitch softball game. The same was not true for Princeton’s first game against West St. Paul, a bad first inning put the Tigers in a 5-0 hole. Never giving in they clawed back and scored three runs in the fourth inning and two in the seventh to make it interesting, the win was just out of reach though with the 6-5 loss.
“We left the bases loaded in the seventh and were only down one run, it got really interesting after the start we had,” said coach Troy Kinney.
This year’s Legion team is considerably younger with only one returner, Josh Hanus, and two seniors in Kyle Norman and Josh Vickers. With the team being so young approaching the game looking to play small ball makes the most sense.
“We don’t have much of a choice, but I like to play that way. Looking to move the runner over and score runs in close games is exciting,” said Kinney.
Playing against Elk River on Saturday in the tournament was another close game where the lone Tiger run was scored with the help of a sacrifice fly and an error by the first baseman. Unfortunately that run would not be enough as the Elks would score three in their 3-1 win.
Sunday’s game went much better for Princeton in all aspects as they scored 14 runs in the beating of Rogers.
“Sunday went much better for us, we finally got some offense going and really took advantage,” said Kinney.
“Consistency is our biggest enemy, if we can get better consistently and play well in most games then we have a good chance to do well in our conference,” said Kinney.
While they didn’t win their own tournament, so far the team is 3-3 on the season with plenty more games to play. The next home game for the Tigers will be June 27 at 6:30 against North Branch.
