Post 18 drops two games at Gopher Classic

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Mitchell Post 18 lost two games in pool play Friday on the first day of the Gopher Classic in Bloomington, Minn.

Mitchell lost its first game 8-2 to Osseo, Minn., and dropped the second game 9-6 to Napoleon, Ohio.

Against Osseo, Mitchell led 1-0 after Kyle Larson’s third-inning RBI single, but it was a seven-run fourth for Osseo that sealed Mitchell’s fate. Only two of those seven runs, which came against Mitchell starter Brett Young, were earned.

“I really think we could have won the first game if you take away a couple errors,” Mitchell coach Luke Norden said. “Brett had only thrown 22 pitches in the first three innings, and then he had to throw 38 pitches in the fourth inning alone to amend for the errors we had. I thought we should have won that first game.”

Mitchell’s only other run in the first game came in the fifth inning when Larson drove in his second run on an RBI groundout. Larson drove in both of Mitchell’s runs and Nick Young, who went 2-for-3, scored both runs. Brett Young and Jordan Piper also had hits for Mitchell.

“Most of our guys were swinging at pitcher’s pitches instead of hitter’s pitches,” Norden said. “I didn’t think any of the pitchers we saw were overly tough. We were just swinging at pitches they wanted us to swing at and didn’t have real good at-bats throughout the day.”

In the 9-6 loss to Napoleon, Mitchell gave up two first-inning runs, but got them right back when Kendall Patrick hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. That, however, was the only offense Mitchell managed until the seventh inning, when Jordan Piper hit an RBI single and Sean DeVries belted a three-run homer.

Meanwhile, Napoleon added three more runs in the second, one in the fourth and three in the sixth. Alex Loes, who started the game on the mound, went six innings and allowed 11 hits. He gave up all nine runs, seven of which were earned. Ryan Buck threw a scoreless seventh inning.

“I thought our pitchers did a pretty good job,” Norden said. “Napoleon hit the ball really well. Every hit they had was hard hit.”

Patrick added a single to go with his homer, and Jordan Piper was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Mitchell will play the final two games of the day today at Bloomington’s Red Haddox Field. Post 18 plays Lakeville North (Minn.) at 5 p.m. and Bloomington Gold at 7:30 p.m.

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