Coach Kowalski looking for improvement from his defense

The Posen baseball team has spent the better part of two days at practice identifying weaknesses after getting swept against Alcona Tuesday and Fairview the night before. A disappointed coach Pat Kowalski doesn?t have to look any farther than his defense. ?We couldn?t catch the ball anywhere,? Kowalski said of the 9-2 and 9-6 losses Monday against Fairview. ?It takes us right out of contention for the North Star League title.? It put Fairview in a position to win its first conference title in 32 years. It?s all part of an up-and-down season for the Vikings.

AN EIGHT-GAME winning streak came to an end at the A-P Super Service tournament, but the players came back with a dominant performance at the Mackinaw City tournament seven days later. After the Vikings defeated Harbor Springs 20-3, Jesse Romel and Matt Ponik combined to strike out 13 of 15 batters in the tournament title game against Brimley for a 6-0 win. At that point, Posen had won 10 of 11 games. On Monday, Fairview fielded one of its best teams in years to swept the Vikings.

The Posen pitchers gave up too many walks and the ?defense was terrible,? Kowalski said. ?Fairview has a nice ball club.? Kowalski said there were players in different positions against the Eagles, which didn?t help. The results weren?t much better in 10-4 and 11-4 losses against Alcona. The games against the Tigers were tied midway through each contest but Alcona had a six-run fourth in game one and a five-run fourth in the second game to put away the red and white.

?We had a couple of lapses

and we weren?t sharp,? Kowalski said. A couple of young pitchers, freshman Brandon Hentkowski and sophomore Dave Karschnick, took the losses. Matt Ponik had a solo homer when the wind died down for a few moments.

RUSS KAMYSZEK (5-2) tossed a four-hitter against Harbor Springs, striking out seven, while Jesse Romel came on in relief and mowed down six. Ponik was three-for-three with six RBI. One of his hits was a three-run homer. Romel was three-for-three with two RBI. Matt Szczerowski had two hits and drove in three runs. Romel added two more hits, giving him five for the tournament, including a triple.

Posen plays a pair of games at Rogers City today and then hosts Brimley, Harbor Light Christian, and Ellsworth for the Posen Invitational Saturday. The next league games are Monday at Au Gres. The rained out games at Arenac Eastern have been moved to May 25 at 4 p.m. in Twining. The May 25 games scheduled against Onaway at home will be played Wednesday, May 26.