With a stellar pitching performance Sunday and a three-run home run Tuesday, Mitch Seykora had himself a great couple games with the Owatonna Legion Post 77 baseball team to add onto a great summer playing baseball.
Owatonna faced Byron at home Sunday afternoon and won 16-0, thanks to dominating offense and a dominating one-hit pitching performance by Seykora. Owatonna returned to Chuck Fuller Field on Tuesday to face off against Kasson in a 11-1 route backed by another pitching performance, this time by Connor Wiese.
Versus Byron
The Legion game on Sunday against Byron was pushed up to an afternoon game after originally scheduled for a night game. Mitch Seykora, the only graduating member of the Post 77 team, got the start for Owatonna on the hot Sunday afternoon.
After a groundout to start the game, Seykora gave up a hit to Byron’s Jacob Von Arx, which ended up being Byron’s only hit of the game. Seykora then got out of the inning with two groundouts.
In just four innings of offense, Owatonna scored in every inning with the fourth inning being the only inning with just one run scored for them.
Gavin Saxton started the inning off with a single to left and immediately scored after a triple by Seykora. A passed ball then scored Seykora and Tayte Berg scored on a single by Blake Davison after Berg reached base previously on a walk.
Davison scored on a groundout by Tanner Smith, giving Smith an RBI and giving Owatonna a four-run lead.
Eight Owatonna players came to bat in the first inning and Owatonna had eight players come to bat in the second inning as well as they scored another four runs to take an 8-0 lead. They outdid themselves in the third inning by batting around in the third inning and having a total of twelve plate appearances.
The third inning started with three walks and a single by Zac Haarstad scored a run. A walk by Gavin Saxton scored another run to make it 10-0. A single by Seykora and a walk by Tayte Berg made the score 12-0. Connor Wiese then singled, scoring two runs and a single by Andy Mitchell scored the seventh and last run of the inning, giving Post 77 a commanding 15-0 lead at the end of the third.
In the top of the fourth, an error by Owatonna had a leadoff runner for Byron, but a flyout and a groundout gave Byron two quick outs. Seykora threw a strikeout to end an inning, his fifth of the game.
A score off of a wild pitch int he bottom of the fourth had Seykora enter the fifth inning with a 16-0 lead and a chance to end the game early. He did just that as a groundout, a flyout, and a strikeout ended his one-hit game. On top of his pitching dominance, Seykora also went 2-4 with a triple and two RBIs.
Every Owatonna batter reached base at least once, with them having a total of 11 hits and 11 walks. Tayte Berg did not have an official at-bat, as all his plate appearances were walks. Other standout players for Post 77 were Gavin Saxton who went 3-3 with an RBI and a walk, Connor Wiese who went 1-3 with 2 RBIs and a walk, Blake Davison who went 2-3 with 3 RBIs, and Zac Haarstad who went 2-3 with 1 RBI.
Versus Kasson
Post 77 had similar success against the Kasson Legion team, but they did not show their dominance right away as Kasson was tied with Owatonna 1-1 heading into the bottom of the second. An error by Kasson allowed Owatonna to take a 2-1 lead in the second, with courtesy runner A.J. Ulrich scoring for Hunter Theis after Theis walked to start the inning.
Owatonna broke the game open in the bottom of the third, as they scored eight runs and batted around. All the runs in the inning were scored when Owatonna had two outs.
A single by Isaiah Farwell started the scoring for Post 77 in the inning as it scored two runs to have Owatonna take a 4-1 lead. A double steal scored courtesy runner AJ Ulrich and an infield single by Blake Davison which scored two runs extended Owatonna’s lead to 7-1.
With Seykora flying out to center field to start the inning, he redeemed himself in fashion as he crushed a three-run home run deep to left field to give Post 77 a 10-1 lead.
Connor Wiese was the starting pitcher for Owatonna, going five innings and having only 52 pitches. He only gave up one run in the second, allowing Post 77 to end the game in the bottom of the fifth as Will Radel scored on a double by Davison to have the differential be at 10 runs.
Owatonna had seven hits and nine walks in the game, with Will Radel having walks in all three of his plate appearances. Other standouts in the game were Davison going 2-4 with 3 RBIs, Seykora going 2-3 with 3 RBIs from his home run, and Isaiah Farwell going 1-3 with 2 RBIs.
Connor Wiese had a good game offensively on top of his stellar pitching performance, drawing two walks.
Post 77 will end their regular season at home against Rochester Century on Thursday before starting the playoffs with a game on Friday, with their opponent and the location yet to be determined.
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