WEST FARGO - Casey Quinlan was nearly unhittable during the time he occupied the mound on Monday.
The Post 2 left-handed pitcher kept the West Fargo Patriots offense quiet, tossing five shutout innings in a 10-1 win in American Legion baseball at Veterans Field.
"I used my fastball to get ahead a lot, but my off-speed pitches where pretty decent tonight," Quinlan said. "I was able to locate them and not just throw it without knowing where it was going."
Post 2's first seven putouts were strikeouts by Quinlan. He finished the game with 10 strikeouts and only yielded one hit in the victory. He issued three walks, which kept him from going further in the game. Justin Beach tossed four innings of solid relief for Post 2.
West Fargo's Zach Steckler led off the fifth inning with an infield single to break up Quinlan's no-hit bid.
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"He's a good pitcher who has three pitches he can beat you with," West Fargo head coach Bill Ibach said of Quinlan. "When he is throwing strikes, he is tough. We really didn't have a sniff against him."
Post 2 jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Jon Nygaard and Connor Robley connected for RBI hits. Fargo added a run in the third and scored two more in the fourth.
Matt Schalow and Robley were 3-for-4 to lead Post 2 (1-1). Schalow scored two runs.
"I think we can build off of this one," Post 2 head coach Luke Rustad said. "We lost 3-1 to Grand Forks in our opener when we didn't hit the ball very well. So, I guess what we can build on is that we put up double digits in hits. Going forward, I'm encouraged. It was nice to see our bats wake up."
West Fargo (4-1) got on the board in the sixth inning when Landon Uetz scored on a passed ball. Uetz led off the inning with a walk.
Lincoln Voss connected for a two-run home run that cleared the 15-foot ivy wall in left-center field in the eighth inning.
"I felt like at the end, we didn't put our best foot forward and didn't have as good of at-bats," Ibach said. "These guys are used to winning so we'll have to learn to fight back."
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Quinlan, Beach (6) and Hallock. Barker, Bitzer (4), Wolden (7) and Bucholz. W-Quinlan. L-Barker. HR- Voss (1).
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Tom Mix at (701) 451-5651
