The Dell Rapids High School club baseball team finished their regular season with an 8-0 win over Sioux Valley on Wednesday, May 20th at Rickeman Field in Dell Rapids. It was the third win in as many days and sixth in a row for Dell Rapids.

Dell Rapids jumped out of the gate early with three runs in the bottom of the first. Treyse Eastman singled to start the game for Dell Rapids, and then later scored by stealing home. Landon Ruesink brought home two runs on a single to give Dell Rapids the 3-0 lead.

They would add three more runs in the bottom of the third. Aiden Boechler had an RBI single. Jack Henry scored on another steal of home, and Dylan Mathis drove home a run with a single. J. Henry had an RBI bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth, and Boechler brought home another run on an RBI ground out to make the score 8-0.

T. Eastman pitched six innings giving up just four hits and two walks while striking out four batters. Ruesink pitched the final inning striking out one.

Boechler led the offense with three hits and two RBIs. Ruesink added two hits and two RBIs. Mathis also had a couple of hits and an RBI. J. Henry finished with a hit and RBI. T. Eastman finished with two hits in the game. Brayden Pankonen and Austin Henry each had a hit.

Dell Rapids finished the regular season as the #1 seed in Region 3B with a 9-0 region record and an overall record of 16-6. Dell Rapids will host the region games on Tuesday, May 25th. Dell Rapids will play the first game at 3:00 p.m. against Tri-Valley. McCook Central will play Lennox at 5:30 p.m. The two winners will meet at 8:00 p.m. with the winner of the final game qualifying for the state tournament. All three games will be at Rickeman Field.

Dell Rapids and Tea may have played the best game of the high school season at Rickeman Field in Dell Rapids on Tuesday, May 18th.  On the line was a #1 seed in Region 3B and neither team would give an inch as it took ten innings to decide a winner.

Both teams ended with nearly identical stat lines, both defenses made great plays, and both starting pitchers dominated the opposition.  Both Dell Rapids and Tea ended with four hits each and one error committed, but it was Dell Rapids that had the edge in the stat column that mattered, the run column.

Landon Ruesink drove home Austin Henry after Henry doubled with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning.  Henry’s doubled sailed to the left field corner, and was nearly caught on a great diving play by Ian Bennett.  Ruesink hit a hard ground ball up the middle on the very next pitch to bring home A. Henry for the game winner.

Starting pitchers Cameron Jensen and A. Henry put on a show for the big crowd on hand.  The first hit of the game didn’t come until Nate Babb hit a one-out single in the top of the sixth inning.  Logan Boom followed with a single of his own to put two runners on with one out.   Dell Rapids was able to work out of that threat to keep the game scoreless.

That was not the first threat Tea put together in the game.  They opened the game with a threat to score.  Two of the first three batters drew walks and advanced to third and second respectively before A. Henry got a strikeout and a pop out to work himself out of the first inning jam.

Dell Rapids didn’t get their first hit of the game off Jensen until the top of the seventh inning.  Brayden Pankonen reached on a one-out single.  Pankonen’s hit brought a change of pitchers for Tea.  Trevor Welch was brought into pitch, and picked Pankonen off first base after just one pitch.  With two outs A. Henry hit a single to left field, but Dell Rapids was unable to score, and the game went to extra innings.

Tea threatened again in the top of the eighth inning.  Babb got on base with a one-out single, and then Boom was hit by a pitch.  After a fielder’s choice ground out, Carter McGregor flew out to left field to end the inning.  Neither team got a base runner until the top of the 10th inning.  With two outs Tea again was close to pushing across the first run.  Babb singled, and Boom reached on an error putting runners on second and third with two outs.  Dawson Portner hit a ground ball to the short stop Jack Henry, but J. Henry played the infield hop perfectly and fired a strike to first to get the third out.

That play set up the game winning bottom of the 10th inning.  Pankonen grounded out to start the inning.  A. Henry’s double came on a 3-1 count before Ruesink’s game-winning hit.

Jensen pitched 6 1/3 innings for Tea allowing just one hit while walking no batter and striking out 11.  Welch took the loss giving up an earned run on three hits and one strikeout.

A. Henry pitched seven innings giving up two hits with three walks and 17 strikeouts.  Pankonen got the win giving up two hits in three innings of relief while striking out three batters.  A. Henry had two of the four hits, including the double.  Ruesink had the RBI hit, and Pankonen also had a hit.

Dell Rapids will be the #1 seed in the Region 3B playoffs with a 9-0 region record.  They are 14-3 against Class B teams and 15-6 overall.  Dell Rapids will finish the regular season at home against Sioux Valley on Wednesday, May 19th.

The Dell Rapids offense scored in every inning, including 10 runs in the third inning, while belting 14 hits in an 15-5 win over Flandreau at Rickeman Field on Monday, May 17th.  Dell Rapids’ two seniors, Kaeden Eastman and Brady Larson, were recognized prior to the game.

Flandreau got a couple of early runs in the top of the first inning on three hits.  Dell Rapids got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Brayden Pankonen scored on an RBI triple by Landon Ruesink.  Flandreau scored one more run in the top of the second inning off an error for a 3-1 lead.

Dell Rapids cut the lead back down to one run after an RBI ground out by Larson, scoring Jack Henry.  After Flandreau scored two more runs in the top of the third, Dell Rapids took control of the game.  They scored 10 times on eight hits and two dropped third strikes to take a 12-5 lead.  Dell Rapids would score two more times in the bottom of the fourth and one more in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on the 10-run rule.

Eight different players had a hit in the game for Dell Rapids.  J. Henry had three hits (two doubles and a triple) and three RBIs.  Treyse Eastman had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs.  Pankonen, Austin Henry, and Aiden Boechler all had two hits and an RBI.  Ruesink had a triple and two RBIs.  Jaton also had a hit and two RBIs.  Larson collected an RBI, and Kaeden Eastman had a hit as well.

Larson pitched one inning giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits with one walk and one strikeout.  J. Henry pitched four innings giving up two runs, one earned, on three this with three walks and five strikeouts.

Dell Rapids will host Tea on Tuesday, May 18th, and then finish the regular season at home against Sioux Valley on Wednesday, May 19th.