After dropping three games in a row to Lemay this season, the Crestwood American Legion baseball team scored 10 runs on 10 hits in a 10-7 win over Lemay Saturday in the District 10 Tournament.
“I think we’re one of the better teams in the tournament,” Crestwood head coach Ed Kopff said. “Lemay had already beaten us three times this year, but it’s hard to beat someone four times in the same season.
“We had good pitching and timely hitting against them and that was our kind of win.”
Crestwood starting pitcher Drew Schlereth received the win after giving up seven runs on seven hits in 52⁄3 innings.
Schlereth racked up five walks and five strikeouts in his fourth win of the season. He’s 4-4 overall with a 3.64 ERA.
“Drew pitched a good game,” Kopff said. “He struggled early on, but then threw really well and ended up getting tired in the sixth.”
Post 777’s Ben Kraemer relieved Schlereth in the sixth and pitched the next 21⁄3 innings.
Kraemer gave up zero runs while walking just one batter and striking out two.
Crestwood’s Curtis Hansen closed out the ninth inning and received the save as he gave up two hits and one walk for his fourth save of the season.
“Drew’s been doing a fantastic job,” Kopff said. “He came in and really shut them down.”
Shortstop Rob Hogenkamp led Crestwood with a three-hit performance that resulted in two RBI. Hogenkamp is batting .333 with 17 RBI.
“Rob’s one of our better hitters,” Kopff said. “He had a fine game.”
Outfielder Scott Krysl drove in three runs on two hits and also scored a run in the win over Lemay. Krysl is leading Crestwood with a .456 batting average and 17 RBI.
“Scott’s been our clutch guy this year,” Kopff said. “He’s a tremendous hitter and has also done well pitching for us when we’ve needed him to.”
The win for Crestwood (17-15, 5-5 District 10 South) advances Post 777 to the winner’s bracket and a Tuesday meeting with top-seed Manchester — after the Call went to press.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Kopff said. “They beat us 10-1 a couple weeks ago, but I think we’ve still got a shot. We’re going to need good pitching and timely hits.”
