Post 354 pummels West Salem to continue hot streak

The dog days of summer have meant a steady stream of wins for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau American Legion baseball team. The latest was a six-inning drubbing that sends them into the postseason on a high note.

G-E-T (16-5) seized the early lead and never looked back in an 11-1 win over West Salem Post 51 last Monday in Galesville.

Post 354 wasted no time getting on the board, putting together a four-run rally in the bottom of the first where the scoring started with a Nathan Holthaus RBI single and was punctuated by Adain Busch’s two-run single. Holthaus scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the second inning to extend his team’s advantage to 5-0.

An additional run in both the fourth and fifth kept the train rolling for G-E-T, though West Salem finally tallied its first run in the top of the sixth. Post 354 responded with a final four-run rally in the bottom half of the same inning bookended by RBI singles from Wyatt Oines and Calvin Davis, the latter of which brought the 10-run mercy rule into effect and ended the game.

At the plate for G-E-T, Ben Hansen finished 3 for 4 with a double and two runs, Jackson Burns was 2 for 4 with a run scored and Davis went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and a run. On the mound, Mitch Thell went all six innings and gave up one run on three hits and six walks while striking out four.

Post 354, which has gone 10-1 in July and has won 13 of its last 14 overall, will take part in a regional tournament hosted at the Park Bowl in Viroqua from Thursday to Saturday. G-E-T gets things started by facing Westby/Coon Valley on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Viroqua and Bangor are also in the regional field.