(#2) Harrisburg Gold Post 45 6 – WP: Eli Kokenge 5IP. 2ER. 6H. 7K. Noah Boschee 2-3 3R-HR (4RBI)
(#7) Aberdeen Smittys 2 – LP: Zane Backous 4.2IP. 7H. 6R. 0ER. 4K. Jaden Smith 1-2, 2RBI
- In the opening round of the State A tournament in Yankton, the Aberdeen Smittys fell short to the Harrisburg Gold Post 45 squad, 6-2 in the seven inning affair.
- Harrisburg got off to a quick start, posting a three spot in the bottom of the first inning and the Smittys would be playing ‘catch-up’ for the duration of the game. Both teams went scoreless over the next three innings, but the Smittys offense did their damage in the 5th With two down, Aberdeen got a 2-RBI single from Jaden Smith, to trim the deficit to 3-2. In the bottom of the frame, Harrisburg added three runs, aided by a few Smittys errors and Aberdeen wasn’t able to overcome in the final two innings.
- Zane Backous went four and two thirds innings and surrendered all six runs, but none of them were earned; he also struck out four. Offensively, Backous was 4-4 with four singles. Drew Salfrank was 2-4 with a run scored & Jaden Smith was 1-2 with those two RBI. After the contest, Coach Kusler reflected on the bottom half of the 5th inning, “After we cut their lead to one, we had all the momentum & just a few mistakes cost us.”
- With the loss, the Smittys will have their backs up against the wall and will need to ‘win out’ to win the state tournament. They’ll be back in action on Wednesday against Renner Post 307 [who lost to Yankton Post 12, 7-1 on Tuesday] at 12:30p.
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Remainder of the bracket:
State A Tournament (In Yankton, SD)
(#1) SF East Post 15 7 – Sawyer Tolk 3-3, RBI. Andrew Glovich 2-4, 3RBI.
(#8) Harrisburg Maroon Post 45 2
(#4) Brookings Post 74 5 – Zach Struck w/ walk-off single in bottom of 7th.
(#5) Rapid City Post 22 4
(#6) Renner Post 307 1
(#3) Yankton Post 12 7 – Drew Ryken 6IP. 1ER. 2H. 2K. Rugby Ryken 2-3, 2 runs scored.