Juniors Emerge In Pitching Duel

UNION -- Garrett Juergens carried the Sullivan Post 18 juniors on the mound Wednesday against Union Post 297. 

Juergens struck out 11 in 6.2 innings and allowed two runs in the seventh inning, allowing Post 297 to halve Sullivan’s lead.

Joshua Wiese retired the only batter he faced with a strikeout and sent Sullivan to a 4-2 win over their Ninth District foe.

Post 18 (5-0, 4-0) remained unbeaten in their district. 

Wednesday’s tilt was a pitching duel for four innings, as both teams tossed zeroes.

Juergens helped himself out in the fifth inning when he tripled to center to score Alec Bell, giving Sullivan a 1-0 lead. Wiese’s sacrifice fly plated Juergens.

Post 18 doubled its lead in the sixth. Joshua Earney, Braden Carey and Blayten Nolie had three straight singles. Collin Immekus dropped in a base hit to score Earney. Ethan Kackley’s RBI groundout brought in Carey for a 4-0 lead. 

Juergens had been cruising until he reached the final inning. He retired the first six batters he saw before yielding a leadoff single in the third. Andrew Branson would throw a runner out trying to steal third for the second out and Juergens finished the inning with a strikeout.

He continued piling up the whiffs four more across the fourth and fifth innings, pitching around a one-out error in the fifth.

Union got a leadoff double to start the seventh and a subsequent single pushed across their first run. After a groundout and a strikeout, Juergens was one batter away until an infield single scratched out another run for Post 297. 

With Juergens 94 pitches deep and the tying run at the plate, Post 18 went to Wiese to close for the second straight night. He needed just four pitches to finish.