Madison had a six-run fifth inning that was the difference in the game as they defeated Dell Rapids 12-8 at Rickeman Field on Wednesday, June 23rd.
Jake Steineke gave Dell Rapids an early 3-0 lead with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Madison got one run in the top of the second on back-to-back hits to start the inning. Madison got another run in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Dell Rapids lead to 3-2.
Then came the big inning for Madison. The first three batters reached on a double, triple, and then single to give Madison a 4-3 lead. Dell Rapids got the next two batters, but Madison followed with a triple, walk, single, and double to push the lead to 8-3.
Riley Peter had an RBI single for Dell Rapids in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Madison lead in half at 8-4. Madison padded their lead with four runs in the top of the seventh off of two hits while taking advantage of two walks and two errors.
Dell Rapids put together a rally with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Landon Ruesink had a two-run double. Steineke drove home two more runs on a double to cut the lead to 12-8, but the rally ended there for Dell Rapids.
Steineke had three hits, including a home run and double, and five RBIs. Noah Swartwout and Kaeden Eastman both had two hits. Ruesink had a double and two RBIs. Peter finished with a hit and an RBI. Josh Deknikker also had a hit.
Brady Larson pitched 4 2/3 innings allowing eight earned runs on 12 hits with one walk and one strikeout. Andrew Van Dam pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing four runs, one earned, on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts.