Legion Baseball

Brandon Valley Post 131    5 – WP: Aiden Zerr 6.2IP. 3H. 2R. 9K.

Aberdeen Smittys                2 – LP: Jackson Welke 4.1IP. 6H. 4R. 3ER. 4BB. 0K.

[Game 1 – best of 3 series] – Game two on FRI @ noon; Game 3 (if necessary) after game 2.

ABERDEEN, SD (HubCityRadio.com) – The Aberdeen Smittys opened up their super regional series with the Lynx of Brandon Valley Post 131 with a 5-2 loss & their backs are up against the wall, needing to win back to back games on Friday to advance to the state tournament in Brookings.

Much like on Monday in the first game of two against Brandon Valley down south, the Smittys got down early and just couldn’t overcome a stellar pitching performance by the Lynx. Trailing 5-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, Aberdeen finally scratched a run across home when Cooper Eisenbeisz drilled an RBI double to the wall to plate one of his teammates. The Smittys also got a late RBI single in the bottom of the seventh from Drew Salfrank, who went 1-3 on the day; but it was too little, too late.

On the hill for the Smittys, Jackson Welke took the loss, going four and a third innings of work and scattering six hits and four runs, three of them earned. On the other hand, Aiden Zerr, who has already verbally committed to play baseball at Notre Dame, of Brandon Valley pitched six and two thirds innings, and only surrendered three hits, while striking out nine Smittys batters. All told, Aberdeen hitters struck out ten times, to the Lynx one time.

With the win, Brandon Valley is now just one win away from the state tournament in Brookings, but the Smittys still have an opportunity to stem the tide on Friday. Game two of the best of three game series is tomorrow at 12pm and game three (if necessary) will follow game two. Ryan Martin will provide play-by-play of the game(s) on HubCityRadio.com.