An ill-timed balk got the best of the Austin Post 91 Legion baseball team as a close contest quickly got out of hand in a 15-3 loss to Rapid City Post 22 in Dick Seltz Field Wednesday.

It looked like Austin pitcher Preston Higbe had gotten out of the second inning without any trouble when he got Austin Wickham to pop-out for the third out of the inning in a scoreless game. But a balk was called on the play and Wickham ended up stringing an RBI-single to start a rally where seven straight Post 22 hitters reached base.

Rapid City (30-16 overall), which took advantage of two Austin errors in the inning, ended up with a 6-0 lead before Higbe escaped the jam.

“We played them tough early and the kids were in it, but we just made too many mistakes,” Austin assistant coach Mike Raso said.

Post 22, which is coached by Austin native Dave Ploof, finished the day with 20 hits and all of them were singles.

“Dave runs a good program and it’s good to have them here. Hopefully they keep coming back,” Raso said. “They’re a fundamentally sound team.”

Austin (6-13 overall) avoided the ten-run rule when Joe Raso grounded out to score a run and Joey Swatfager scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Rapid City 0 6 0 1 1 3 4 — 15 20 0

Austin 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 — 3 7 4

Austin pitching: Preston Higbe (L), 5 IP, 14 H, 2 BBs, 11 R, 3 ER, 1 K; Joey Swatfager, 2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 K

Austin hitting: Quinn Yocom, 1-for-3; Gabe Kasak, 2-for-3, double, R; Swatfager, 0-for-1, R, BB, HBP; Adam McMasters, 0-for-2; Higbe, 0-for-2; Jacob Thompson, 2-for-2, double, R; Aaron Goetz, 0-for-3; Marcus Stoulil, 0-for-2; Nate Paris, 1-for-2, RBI; Joe Raso, 0-for-1, RBI; Jordan Lysne, 0-for-1; Zach Wilder, BB; Luke Mallory, 0-for-1; Zach Huntley, 1-for-1; Josh Hart, 0-for-1