By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
RENO, Nev.– Stayton’s Myles Emmert came into a Hornets Nest of sorts with the Reno Muckdogs in the fourth inning.
The Muckdogs were on a tear, leading the Post 58 Crushers 6-2 with no outs when Emmert took over. In four batters, Emmert got the Crushers out of the jam down 8-2 to Reno. The Muckdogs scored off a sacrifice fly and a balk to create a six-run lead.
Those two runs would be the last two that Reno would score. Those four batters faced in the fourth inning for Emmert set the foundation of what was to come as they began to settle down.
“It was good for us getting settled down, and once we got settled down, we were able to put up a big inning the next inning and get it going,” said Emmert.
It took some time for the comeback to come around, though. It wasn’t instantaneous, as Post 58 couldn’t get it going in the bottom half of the fourth inning. But with Emmert’s three-up and down inning in the top half of the fifth inning, it was time for the Crushers to take over.
Starting with Colton Connally’s single, the Crushers loaded up the bases with no outs. And this time, they executed.
James Collier drove in a run off a sacrifice fly, making it 8-3 with one out. Then Wyatt Postlewait hit a three-run home run to cut the deficit to 8-6. Post 58 reloaded the bases once more with still an out on the board that eventually led to four more runs on the board before the inning ended with the Crushers leading 10-8.
An eight-run inning swung this momentum into the favor of Post 58 going into the sixth and seventh innings.
“It was fun. It kind of got my confidence back, I haven’t been hitting so far. So I think it’s good hitting with a wood-bat because that’s what I’m going to be hitting with next year in college. It definitely felt good. It helped get the team going,” said Postlewait. “Everyone else did their part. We’ve had guys with three hits, four hits. That was a good win overall.”
The Crushers clutched up to close out the 10-8 victory. Emmert got the first two outs in the sixth inning before handing things over to Henry Briggs, who closed out the victory on the hill.
It was a gutsy, clutch performance that relied on the whole team to close things out as they went into Friday’s and Saturday’s doubleheaders feeling good.
“It was amazing to see Henry go in and close it out, but he got the help with our team. Our team was really solid defensively around him, too. Just having that great defense, it gives you confidence as a pitcher,” said Briggs.
Wade Bergadhl led the Crushers with four hits, with Connally contributing another three hits in the victory. Bergadhl and Postlewait each drove in three runs for Post 58, who will play the Dirty Dozen 18U squad and LBA 2025 18U squad Friday at 11:30am and 2pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
