Will Suchy put the finishing touches on an impressive day for the Alexandra Zimny Insurance American Legion Post 87 baseball team on Wednesday.
Post 87 (17-7-1) came away with a pair of wins in a doubleheader in East Grand Forks. After escaping game one with an 8-6 win, Suchy took over on the mound for a one-hit complete-game shutout performance in game two.
Suchy struck out 14 batters and walked just two in his seven innings of work. On the other side of the ball, the Alexandria bats came through with 10 hits, including three off the bat of Devan Swerman.
Alexandria put up three runs in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly from JD Hennen, a bases-loaded walk from Grady Anderson and an RBI fielder's choice from Caleb Runge. Nate Hammerback made it a 5-0 game with a two-RBI single in the top of the second with two outs.
Hennen drove in Lake Hagen with a single in the fourth inning before Brock Lerfald singled in a run to make it 7-0.
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Alexandria got out to a five-run lead in game one of the doubleheader thanks to a 2-run double from Hagen and a 2-run single from Elijah Holthaus. EGF scratched across a pair of runs in the bottom of the third before an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth made it a 5-3 ballgame.
Post 87 had a quick response with a Dayton Downing RBI-double and a bases-loaded walk from Hagen. Downing would add another RBI on a single in the top of the seventh.
Hennen got the start on the mound and lasted 4.1 innings. He allowed three earned runs and struck out nine batters. Holthaus recorded the next seven outs before Parker Jendro earned a one-out save.
Alexandria’s sweep of EGF followed a tough night in Bemidji on Monday. After dropping the first game 5-1, Post 87 fell 8-0 in game two. Reid Residorm had two of Alexandria’s four hits. Devin Cimbura threw all six innings for Alexandria and gave up six earned runs with three strikeouts.
In game one, Alexandria jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a home run from Swerman. Bemidji went on to score five unanswered en route to a sweep. Hammerback recorded a pair of hits while Connor and Brock Lerfald took care of the pitching for all six innings.
