Armstrong Legion falls to Park Center in rematch

The Park Center American Legion baseball team completed a statement win on July 16 rematching and beating Armstrong 17-0. The game came just days after a home loss to the Falcons.

The scoring started early and with style for Park Center. Drew Paape walked home for the first run of the day, before two left-leaning home runs from Otto Arlt and Ty Lovcik brought in four total runs.

Armstrong eventually brought in Will Schultz to pitch and improved their control in the inning. Two kills for Schultz helped end the damage there with Park Center up 5-0.

Nevan Johnson began the day pitching for Park Center and continued the team’s strong day with a kill plus tags from Adam Aasen at shortstop and Arlt at first base.

The Pirates picked up one more run in the top of the second thanks to Justin Walters, but Armstrong held strong Will Hoffrogge and Schultz shined in an overall positive inning in the field. Park Center did the same, with a catch for Logan Anderson and two tags from Arlt.

The floodgates burst for Park Center in the third inning as the Pirates put together an 11-run performance to surge ahead.

It began with a walk home after Park Center loaded the bases and then saw batter Walters hit by a pitch.

Three more walks to home plate made it 10-0. Aasen then hit a two-RBI single to bring Lovcik and Kennedy Capp home. Cullen O’Rourke hit an RBI single to bring one runner home before an RBI double was hit by Johnson to bring Aasen home.

Micah Eschbach came on to pitch for Armstrong and managed to bring order to the situation, though Park Center did score one more run to lead 17-0 by the middle of the third.

Armstrong looked for a response in the bottom of the third, but strong play at shortstop by Aasen, now surrounded by rotated-in faces around the field. The game eventually came to a conclusion at 17-0, ending a frustrating day for the Falcons and a celebratory one for Park Center. The latter had one league win before Tuesday and looks toward the postseason with an encouraging win in hand.

In another recent game, Armstrong fell to Prior Lake 10-0.