ROCHESTER — Austin pitcher Jake Reinartz did plenty of pacing and hoping he would get in Austin’s first game on Sunday, but he had to wait to make his impact as he pitched Austin Post 91 to a 4-1 win over the Rochester John Marshall Patriots at Massey Field. The win puts Austin in its first state Legion baseball tournament since 1990.

Reinartz had to sit by and watch as Austin watched an early 2-0 lead disappear in the first game against the Patriots, which Austin eventually lost 15-7. Reinartz tried to go warm up four different times during that game, but co-head coach Joe Kroc thought it was better to save him for the second game, which was a must-win contest.

“The nerves weren’t really there and it was kind of frustrating to watch the first game when I wanted to pitch so badly,” Reinartz said. “That kind of gave me the fire to come out and throw strikes.”

Reinartz scattered seven hits and he allowed just one run in the state-clinching win for Post 91 (28-6 overall).

Kroc said there was a scenario were Reinartz would’ve pitched in game one, but as the game got out of hand, it was evident he would have to wait. Kroc gave credit to his pitcher for coming through in a pressure packed game.

“Jake was chomping at the bit in the dugout [of game one],” Kroc said. “He’s a gamer and he was lights out [in game two]. Everything was working for him, fast ball, curve ball and the change up. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s come a long way and he’s become a pretty good college prospect.”

Austin catcher Dylan Gasner caught a total of 27 innings in two days and his bat played a big role in Sunday’s win. Dylan went 4-for-4 with RBIs in the win. Austin’s other RBI came from Jordan Hart, who hit a solo homer in the first inning to get Post 91 started.

“We could’ve got down [after losing the first game],” Dylan said. “But we knew we could hit better than that and we knew Jake was going to be gutsy and give us a performance, which he did. When you’ve got Jake on the mound, you just need a couple of runs and he’ll do the rest.”

Reinartz said it helped him to have Dylan behind the plate in a big game.

“I love throwing to Dylan. I’ve been throwing to Dylan for four or five years,” Reinartz said. “He always calls a great game and I wouldn’t want anyone else behind the plate.”

Just about everything that could go wrong, went wrong for Austin in the first game. Post 91 committed five errors and it walked a total of 11 batters in the loss.

Kroc said it’s a testament to the team’s character that it is headed to the state tournament.

“There’s been a lot of good players [from Austin] that didn’t make it [to state]. That tells you about this group about how talented they are and how good of a kids they are,” Kroc said.

Patriots 0 0 0 4 6 4 1 0 0 — 15 16 2

Austin 0 2 0 0 1 0 4 0 X — 7 16 5

Austin pitching: Alex Ciola (L) 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 4 ER; Isaac Schumacher, 1 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 R, 0 ER; Jacob Kempen, 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 6 BB, 5 ER, 1 K

Austin hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 2-for-5; Nate Conner, 2-for-5, RBI, R; Jordan Hart, 3-for-5, RBI, SB, R; Nik Gasner, 1-for-4, double, R, SB, BB; Dylan Gasner, 1-for-5, R; Alex Ciola, 2-for-4, R; Ethan Horstmann, 2-for-4, R; Jacob Kempen, 1-for-4, RBI; Isaac Schumacher, 3-for-4, double, RBI,L 2 R

Patriots 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 7 0

Austin 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 X — 4 12 1

Austin pitching: Jake Reinartz (W) 9 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 1 ER, 6 K

Austin hitting: Daniel Bollingberg, 1-for-5; Nate Conner, 0-for-4, HBP, R; Jordan Hart, 1-for-3, HR, RBI, 2 R, 2 BBs; Dylan Gasner, 4-for-4, 3 RBIs; Alex Ciola, 1-for-2, 2 BBs; Ethan Horstmann, 1-for-4; Jacob Kempen, 1-for-3, BB; Isaac Schumacher, 0-for-1, BB