Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Pitching fuels road sweep, Ely climbs to #3 in state

Thanks to two more strong outings on the mound, Ely's American Legion baseball team won two more games Tuesday night and finished a seven-game, six-day stint - all on the road - with a 6-1 record.

Louie Gerzin struck out 12 batters as Post 248 beat Chisholm 8-3 in the opening game of a split twinbill, and after a jaunt across the Range to Nashwauk, Riley Bernsdorf blanked Taconite on three hits in a 5-0 Ely victory.

The wins extended Ely's winning streak to five games and Post 248 (13-6) has won 10 of its last 12 contests.

The recent hot streak, which also included a victory over top-ranked BOLD, has drawn the attention of those who vote in the weekly state American Legion rankings.  In a poll released Tuesday night, Ely climbed five spots to number-three, ranked only behind BOLD and Luverne.

Gerzin, who picked up his fifth win of the summer, allowed four hits and just one earned run against Chisholm.

Post 248 jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but the hosts pulled to within 3-2 in the fourth. Ely countered with Bradley Roy's two-run single in the fifth and three more insurance runs in the seventh.

Roy finished with four runs batted in, while Max Gantt had two hits and two runs batted in.

Bersdorf and Taconite's Justin Peratalo hooked up in a pitching duel in a contest that started at 9:20 p.m. Ely got on the board in the fourth, when Bersdorf scored all the way from first on a Pat Huisman double.

Ely added three more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh, while Bernsdorf was in command on the mound.  The sophomore finished with seven strikeouts and only one Taconite runner got to third base.

Huisman had two hits and two RBI for Ely, which is off until a July 8 doubleheader at Cook County.

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