Quinby pitches Birds to win over Armstrong

Scott Quinby earned the 5-4 win over Armstrong with a

season-high six and one-third innings of mound work.

After facing just three batters, Chester Bird pitcher Scott Quinby had already given up three runs.He would not allow another run until he had worked into the seventh inning, leading The Birds to a 5-4 win over Armstrong in a non-league game at BSM Field.

Quinby got off to an inauspcious start as he hit Jacob Edstrom with the first pitch of the game. Justus Nelson followed with a single and Brady Johnson sent a 1-1 pitch over the center field fence to give Armstrong a 3-0 lead.

From that point, Quinby would get 19 outs before leaving the game with a 5-4 lead and one out in the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, his team got him the run support he needed as Dan Labosky hit his third triple in five games to lead off the bottom of the second inning and scored on Joe Melles' ground out to second base. Jimmy Heck followed with a double but the first of three lineout double plays would end The Birds' threat.

In the second inning, Marcus Barone led off with a double but, two outs later, he was still at second base at Armstrong pitcher Mike Leonard was one pitch away from getting out of the inning on two ocassions when he hit Mikey McGill and Robby Sutherland with two-strike pitches to load the bases.

With Labosky at the plate, Nelson tried to pick off Barone at third base but the catcher's throw was wide of third base and the runners all advanced a base and, two pitches later, McGill scored on a wild pitch to tie the game.

Labosky would go on to reach first base on a walk and a double steal saw him move to second while Sutherland scored the go-ahead run.

The score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Keaton Studsrud led off with a double to center field before stealing third base. McGill then followed with an RBI single to give Chester Bird a much-needed insurance run.

Armstrong rallied in the seventh when Dan Holten led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. However, Quinby got Ricky Reed to ground out to shorstop, with Holten holding at third base. Edstrom then bunted for a base hit but the bunt down the third base line once again kept Holten at third.

Edstrom stole second base before Nelson hit a slow roller to shortstop which Studsrud fielded cleanly. Holten got a late jump from third base and Studsrud looked to home before making a late throw to first, putting runners on the corners while making the score 5-4.

Labosky then came in from left field to relieve Quinby and his first pitch was in the dirt and allowed Nelson to move to second base. Johnson was then walked intentionally and Labosky promptly struck out Wyatt Engel before getting Nick Snyder to ground out to end the game.

In all, The Birds offense produced just seven hits but four were for extra bases with Barone, Heck and Studsrud each collecting a double while Labosky had a triple.

Quinby, in six and one-third innings, allowed four runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out four, to earn his first win of the season while Labosky's two-thirds of an inning of work netted him his first save of the season.

Chester Bird returns to action, Monday, with its final game of the regular season against Edina at Braemar Field beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Birds need to either win that game or have St. Louis Park lose to Bloomington Blue later that evening to earn a spot in next weekend's District 10 playoffs, which get underway Thursday at 9 a.m. at Haddox Field in Bloomington and Veterans Field in Minnetonka.