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A year after the team struggled to win games, the Austin Post 1216 VFW baseball team is having a blast this summer.

Austin continued to roll through the summer as it used a strong pitching performance and a late inning push to beat Rochester Lourdes 9-0 in Marcusen Park Wednesday.

John Rollie allowed a hit to the second batter he faced, but he didn’t allow another hit the rest of the game as he struck out 12 in the shutout win.

“You just go up there and keep pitching,” Rollie said. “I’m not a hard thrower, so I just throw a lot of junk. That’s my thing.”

After Post 1216 scored an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning, Rochester’s biggest threat came in the third inning when it had runners on second and third with two outs when Rollie used a strikeout to escape the jam.

“What a difference a year makes,” Austin head coach Chad Pederson said. “The older kids have been good leaders and the younger kids have a lot of talent. The older kids have kind of shown them how to get it done.”

Austin put the game out of reach when it scored eight times in the bottom of the sixth inning. Rob Lillis had a big two-run double to right center field to get that rally started.

“We just need to stay fundamental and not make errors,” Lillis said. “The younger guys have added energy and lifted us up. Most of us played school ball together and we have a good bond that keeps us going. The summer is really important to us, because we don’t have a lot of seniors on next year’s school ball team.”

Post 1216 (10-4 overall) will wrap up its regular season in Owatonna Thursday and the postseason will begin this weekend.

“They’ve played together really well as a team and they support each other,” Pederson said of the team. “Whether it’s defensively, offensively or our pitching, everybody supports each other really well and it’s a great group of kids. They all bring something different to the game. It’s been a fun season for all of them.”

Rochester 000  000  0  –  0  1  2

Austin 010  008  X  –  9  8  3

Austin pitching: John Rollie (W) 7 IP, 1 H, 5 BB, 0 R, 12 K

Austin hitting: Casey Denzer, 1-for-5, RBI, R; Jonah Klein, 1-for-3, RBI; Benton Purkapile, 0-for-4, HBP; Keegan Duholm, 1-for-3, BB; Dylan Wencl, 0-for-1, RBI, 2 SB, 2 R, 2 BBs, HBP; Rob Lillis, 1-for-3, double, 2 RBIs, R, HBP; Tyler Carter, 3-for-3, R, 2 SB, HBP; Cooper Jacobsen, 1-for-2, R, BB, HBP