Lake Zurich Post 964 Loses 3 of 4 In Wisconsin Tournament

If winning the Barrington Mid-Summer tournament on June 26 was the zenith of Lake Zurich Post 964’s season so far, the last five games they’ve played, including last weekend’s four-game River City Classic tournament in Eau Claire, Wis., are the opposite.

With their 14-3 drubbing of Wauconda on July 6, the team looked to be building some momentum heading up north to the land of beer and cheese. However, in their final tune-up before the tournament, Lake Zurich was defeated 10-0 by Grayslake. Brian Wiest gave up seven runs and seven hits in three innings and Ian Ryan was touched for three more over the last two frames in a game that was halted after five innings. The team managed just two hits against Grayslake; Mike Irgang had the lone extra base hit for Lake Zurich.

It wasn’t an ideal way to depart for what manager Dan Grant previously had described as a grind of a tournament in Eau Claire, and if the lopsided loss to Grayslake didn’t bode well for Post 964, that was borne out when they dropped three out of four in the tourney.

“It is always tough up there and we just did not play defense well enough – too many errors in critical situations,” said Grant.

In the opening game on Friday against a strong Eau Claire team, Lake Zurich lost 8-2. The score doesn’t reflect that Post 964 kept it close until the sixth inning, when Eau Claire scored five runs. Tanner Kiser had two of the team’s eight hits in going 2-for-3. Dan Johnsen absorbed the loss, yielding three runs and six hits over six innings. Zach Reusch was touched for five runs in the final inning.

In Saturday morning’s game, Lake Zurich kept it closer in a 7-5 loss to Spooner-Hayward. Mike Irgang, in relief of starter Jeremy Reusch, took the loss, giving up a pair of runs on two hits in the sixth inning. Dan Johnsen went 3-for-4 with a run scored, and Kyle Sanders went 2-for-4, also scoring a run. Brian Wiest had a pair of RBIs.

In the matinee matchup, Post 964 rang up their sole win, defeating Green Bay-Southwest 4-3. Mike Irgang rebounded from that morning’s loss in relief and went the distance, allowing three runs on four hits while fanning eight and walking five. Brian Wiest was the team’s hitting star, knocking in two runs while going 2-for-3.

“Mike Irgang really gutted it out going seven innings in hot, humid weather, keeping us in it so we had a chance at the end,” said Grant.

In Sunday’s final contest, Wisconsin Rapids capitalized on a pair of errors by Post 964, defeating them 6-4. Bobby Swanson went 2-for-2 for Lake Zurich, with a pair of RBIs, and Kyle Sanders went 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Starter James Kosatka pitched reasonably well, giving up four runs and seven hits while striking out four. Only two of the runs he allowed were earned.

While neither of the final two losses was by a large margin, Lake Zurich was plagued by errors throughout the tournament. They committed one against Eau Claire, two versus Spooner-Hayward, another against Green Bay-Southwest and two more against Wisconsin Rapids. Meanwhile, not a single error was committed by any of the four teams Post 964 played.

On the plus side, there were some solid performances by several of the team’s players.

“Irgang, Sanders and Wiest played outstanding and deserved to make to the all-tournament team,” said Grant.

“We go to Eau Claire because it is so competitive,” Grant said, putting the tourney in perspective. “It helps us prepare for the tournament coming up later in the week,” he said, referring to the 10^th District qualifier, which runs from July 13-17.