Sean Erwin has a lot to smile about these days.

The head coach of the Crestwood American Legion baseball team is smiling because his team has strung together a three-game winning streak. That streak includes a 11-4 thumping of Oakville and a 13-3 thrashing of Lemay.

“Right now, I think we’re starting to show more character,” Erwin told the Call.

Crestwood (7-4) found itself in a tough battle June 25 with Oakville as it held a 4-2 advantage after five innings of play.

“The game was close because it was 4-2 after the fifth inning,” Erwin said. “We scored seven runs in the next three innings. It was probably the first game where we came out and really executed.”

Crestwood pitcher Mike Croghan received the win as he gave up two runs on three hits in six innings pitched. Croghan retired six batters via strikeout and walked two in his first win of the 2004 season.

“He (Croghan) has not thrown in a while due to how our rotation is,” Erwin said. “Mike threw fairly well and had some fairly decent defense behind him.”

On the offensive side of the ball, utility man Brian Tiefenbruck has been nothing less than hot at the plate as he went 3-5 with two runs and three runs batted in along with a stolen base. He’s currently batting a monstrous .636 with 10 runs batted in.

“Brian’s gotten a lot of playing time lately,” Erwin said. “He actually leads the league in hitting right now.”

On Saturday, Crestwood racked up 13 runs on 18 hits despite missing four starters in the lineup, who were attending weddings and other family functions.

“Coming into the game, I thought it would be very interesting because we were missing four starters,” Erwin said. “We ended up getting some guys into the game that normally don’t get to see a lot of playing time.”

Starting pitcher Mark Spinner upped his record to 3-0 with a six-hit performance, in which he allowed just one earned run in seven innings pitched. Spinner also struck out three and walked four in the winning effort.

“Mark was hitting his spots,” Erwin said. “I think that Mark is a guy that when we take the field, we know that we have an excellent chance to with the game because he’s on the mound. He threw very well for us against Lemay.”

Tiefenbruck was on fire once again for Crestwood as he went 4-5 with two runs batted in.

“Basically, our whole lineup hit well in that game,” Erwin said.

Crestwood is participating in the upcoming Ballwin Fourth of July Tournament, which is being played at Marquette and Lafayette high schools. Schedules were not set before the Call went to press Monday.

“I think that it (the tournament) is going to be a good opportunity because our team is the type of team that needs to play every day,” Erwin said.

“We’re in a situation where right now, we can end up winning this whole thing. It’s basically up to us. This tournament will really get us going and let us play every day.”