Earney Strikes Out 11 In Freshmen’s 3-1 Win

Joshua Earney struck out 11 batters Wednesday as the Post 18 freshmen won their third straight game 3-1 over Hermann.

Earney allowed just three hits and one run for Post 18 (3-0, 2-0).

Sullivan had just five hits, scoring once in the first and twice in the third. Garrett Juergens tripled, while Earney, Collin Immekus, Blayten Nolie and Andrew Bell had singles.

Post 18 got the scoring started with a one-out walk from Joshua Wiese. Trevor Abernathy struck out, but Wiese stole second with Earney batting. He advanced to third and scored on a wild pitch.

In third, Juergens struck out a one-out triple to center field. Wiese drew another walk. He stole second with Abernathy batting. An error on the play got Juergens home and gave Sullivan a 2-0 lead. Wiese went to third.

Abernathy drew a walk to put runners on the corner and Wiese scored when Earney grounded out to second. Hermann got out of the inning on a grounder by Immekus.

Sullivan was unable to do much from there. Colton Ward drew a walk with one out in the fourth and Bell singled to put two runners on for Juergens, but Hermann got a strikeout to escape trouble.

Post 18 had back-to-back two-out singles by Earney and Immekus in the fifth, but Hermann would again strand the runners.

Earney wouldn’t need any more support, though. He retired the first 11 batters he faced, eight by strikeout.

A two-out infield single in the fourth broke up Earney’s perfect game. A line drive single to center led to Hermann getting their first run. Earney got a strikeout to end the frame.

Earney retired the next six batters he faced. He allowed a leadoff single in the seventh. A wild pitch moved the runner up to second. He got a ground ball to shortstop for the first out, keeping the runner at second. Another ground out moved the run to third. He finished off the game with a ground out to short.