The Arlington Senior Legion baseball team returned home Wednesday after six-straight road trips.
Back at the Washington County Fairgrounds, and coming off of a 5-1 stretch, the Eagles lost a 2-1 contest to Wayne. They are 8-6 this season.
Pitchers Barrett Nielsen and Jacob Kneifl dueled in the Ralph Bishop League (RBL) matchup.
Post 43 scratched just two early runs across the plate against the Eagles' righty during his complete-game effort, while Kneifl saw just one scored against him before hitting his pitch limit in 6 2/3 innings. Ultimately, it was the Wayne pitcher earning the 2-1 victory.
“He's a good pitcher,” Nielsen said. “Credit goes to Jacob.”
The hurler though Arlington played well, too.
“It was good game,” he said. “Our defense was really good. I was really proud of that.”
The Eagles just needed a little more production at the plate.
“We've just got to manufacture runs,” Nielsen said. “We've got to get them earlier.”
Nick Smith singled and Dustin Kirk tripled during the first six innings, but Post 71 didn't log a run on the scoreboard until the seventh inning with their backs against the wall. After a leadoff strikeout, Aiden Foreman singled to left field before Josh Miller reached when he was struck by a Kneifl pitch.
Then, with two outs, Braden Monke tallied an RBI infield single to pull the Eagles within 2-1. Wayne's starting pitcher exited, but his relief logged the game-ending strikeout and a win.
In a losing effort, Nielsen struck out just one, but gave his team a chance from the mound.
“When a pitcher has a good defense like we have, I get a lot more confidence out there,” he said. “And I think I throw better.”
Arlington was scheduled back home Thursday, but the game was canceled by rain. The RBL Tournament was next coach Ed Menking's team with early round results to be published in Friday's Arlington Citizen and Washington County Enterprise.
Juniors beat Wayne
The Arlington Junior Legion team also played a pair of games Wednesday and Thursday at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
In the first, the Eagles earned a 5-4, walk-off victory against Wayne. They trailed 4-3 going into their final at-bats, but loaded the bases and pulled out the win.
Darren Olson — the first run-scorer of the Arlington bottom half — Kirk and Kaden Pittman moved counter-clockwise around the diamond when Smith earned the game-tying walk. Then, after a pop out, Blaine Vogt stepped into the batter's box and put another Wayne pitch in play. Post 43 let the infield fly drop and Kirk scored the game-winning fifth run on the error.
