Pitching depth key for Post 14

Shane Schoeneberg likes his chances at this weekend’s Post 14 Invitational at Jack Brown Stadium.

The Jamestown Legion baseball coach pointed toward pitching as a strength with possibly having to play five games in three days, four for sure.

“I think we’d have a good shot,” Schoeneberg said. “Our (main) pitchers are well rested. They haven’t thrown since the Devils Lake tournament. It was nice on Tuesday to have Joey (Gebhardt) and Landon (Weiser) and Shaun Hogan throw. That showed they’re very capable of performing. It’s good to get innings, so that when we get to tournament time, we can hope to count on them for innings as well.”

Jamestown meets Groton, S.D., at 2 p.m. Friday in the second game of the tournament, which kicks off with the Fargo Metro Expos vs. Beulah at 11:30 a.m. After the Expos meet Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at 4:30 p.m., Jamestown faces Beulah in the final game of the night, set for 7.

“I got to see (Beulah) at the Class B state tournament,” Schoeneberg said. “They’ve got good arms and some guys that are pretty successful. They have a pretty solid lineup.”

The scheduling for Legion baseball in Minnesota got moved back a week, Schoeneberg said, meaning for the first time in a long time, Coon Rapids won’t be participating. Instead, it’ll head to its regularly scheduled Gopher Classic.

Still, Schoeneberg was optimistic about the baseball being played this weekend, noting that he knows a little about every team.

“Beulah will be pretty decent with them having won the (Class B) high school tournament,” Schoeneberg said. “Saskatoon is usually pretty decent and we played Groton last year and split with them.”

The fifth team is the Expos, who are 0-3 against Jamestown this summer.

Jamestown is fresh off a split with Aberdeen on Tuesday in which it won the first game 4-0 on a gem from Joey Gebhardt, and looked to have another one from Landon Weiser in the nightcap until he couldn’t hold a 3-1 lead in the seventh. Jamestown eventually lost 5-4 in eight innings, but Post 14 still got the split, moving its record to 10-9 on the season. Jamestown has won nine of its last 14 games.

The doubleheader went by without Danny Fischer logging any time at shortstop because of a sore arm, which Schoeneberg said likely wouldn’t hinder him in the future. Statistically, Fischer has been the team’s best arm, posting a 3-0 record with a 0.28 ERA. He’s allowed just one earned run on the season and is second on the team in innings pitched at 25 behind Riley Schafer’s 26.2.

“Danny’s arm wasn’t feeling the best,” Schoeneberg said. “That’s why we didn’t play him at shortstop. We need to look at the bigger picture, not just a tournament.”

Schoeneberg said Schafer (1-3), Kasey Gengler (2-1) and Brady Anderson (1-1) are among the most likely candidates to start Friday’s two games.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, legion, baseball