Legion Baseball
Aberdeen Smittys 2 – ND: Zane Backous 5IP. 3H. 2R. 2ER. 7BB. 3K. +[3-4 2RBI on offense].
Brandon Valley Post 131 3 F/9
- LP: Joran Foss 3.1IP. 3H. 1R. 1ER. 3K.
[Game 2 – BV wins series, 2-0]
ABERDEEN, SD (HubCityRadio.com) – The Aberdeen Smittys saw their 2024 summer come to a close on Friday afternoon from Fossum Field.
Needing to win game two of a best of three series to force a third, the Smittys and Brandon Valley Post 131 battled to extra innings like a heavyweight boxing match. But at the end of the 9th round, the Lynx delivered the knock-out punch with a walk-off single, where the runner would score from second base.
The Smittys got a solid outing from Zane Backous on the hill; he went five innings and only surrendered three hits and a pair of runs, while striking out three Lynx. In long-form relief, Joran Foss toed the rubber and went three and a third innings and struck out three, but surrendered the games’ final deciding run. Foss got out of a runners on first and second with one out jam in the bottom of the eighth inning with back to back strikeouts. In the top half of the next frame, the Smittys went down in order on just four pitches and the Lynx would win it in the bottom of the ninth.
Zane Backous provided the offense for the Smittys, who went 3-4 with a pair of runs batted in. The Smittys also got hits from Drew Salfrank, Cooper Eisenbeisz, Phillip Zens, Jackson Welke and Grant Beyer.
Aberdeen puts a wrap on their season going 32-20; following the game, head coach Nathan Gonnelly visited with Ryan Martin: “I’m just so proud of our guys, being out there today and competing; they showed a lot of heart this season. It stings to lose, but we take away a lot of positive things from this year.”