Photo taken and used with permission by Kiley Stone
The Dell Rapids Mudcats met Dell Rapids PBR in the semifinals of the District 4B Tournament in Colman on Tuesday, July 27th. The Mudcats punched their ticket to the 2021 South Dakota Class B State Tournament with a 13-3 win in eight innings.
The Mudcats got out to an early lead thanks to a three-run home run by Trevor Freudenthal in the bottom of the first inning. They added to that lead with two more runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI sacrifice fly by Josh Roemen and an RBI single by Grant Olson. Mark Abrahamson drove home a run with a single in the bottom of the fourth, and Freudenthal scored on an error in the bottom of the fifth to push the Mudcat lead to 7-0.
PBR finally got on the board in the top of the sixth inning. Brandon Geraets scored on a passed ball, and Riley Hoffman had an RBI groundout to cut the lead to 7-2. The Mudcats scored four more times in the bottom of the seventh. Freudenthal had a two-run home run, and Travis Peters and Grant Olson both scored on a passed ball to make the score 11-2. Matt Gillogly hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth for PBR, but the Mudcats got two runs on a two-run single by Jimmy Bauer to end the game on the 10-run rule.
PBR was led by Carter Gullickson with two doubles. Gillogly had a home run and an RBI. Gillogly also pitched four innings allowing six earned runs on five hits with six walks and a strikeout. Jake Rechtenbaugh pitched two innings alloing four runs, two earned, on one hit and three walks with one strikeout. David Kirby pitched 1 2/3 innings allowing two runs on a hit with four walks and two strikeouts.
Freudenthal had the big night for the Mudcats with two home runs and five RBIs. Bauer had a hit and two RBIs. Roemen and Abrahamson both had a hit and an RBI. Chad Hunt finished with a double, and Olson had a hit. Dalton Lehner pitched seven innings allowing two runs on two hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts. Dalton Allen pitched one inning allowing one run on one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.
PBR will play the winner of Salem/Colman on Thursday, July 29th at 8:00 p.m. The Mudcats will play in the championship game against Flandreau on Saturday, July 31st at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be in Colman.