The Dell Rapids baseball team hosted Yankton in a double-header on Monday, April 26th at Rickeman Field.  Dell Rapids won the first game 5-3, but Yankton used a big seventh-inning rally to win the second game 12-8.

Dell Rapids had five runs on eight hits in the game.  They scored the first three runs of the game in the first two innings and never trailed in the game.  Yankton tied the game 3-3 in the top of the fifth, but Dell Rapids got a run in the fifth and one more in the sixth inning.

Dell Rapids had six of their eight hits in the first game come from Austin Henry and Treyse Eastman.  Both Henry and T. Eastman were 3-for-3 in the game.  Henry had two home runs and two RBIs.  T. Eastman also had two RBIs.  Kaeden Eastman and Aiden Boechler each had a hit in the game.

A. Henry pitched the first four innings giving up two runs on two hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.  Brayden Pankonen pitched the final three innings giving up one earned run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Yankton held an early 1-0 lead in the second game after scoring a run in the top of the second inning.  Dell Rapids scored three times in the bottom of the second.  Yankton got another run in the top of the third to trail 3-2.  Dell Rapids then had a big five-run inning in the bottom of the fourth for an 8-2 lead.  Yankton added a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 8-3.  Things looked great for Dell Rapids leading 8-3 heading into the final inning, but Yankton exploded for nine runs in the top of the seventh.  They took advantage of four walks, a hit batter, and three Dell Rapids errors.  Yankton added three hits in the inning as well and ended their half of the inning leading 12-8.

Pankonen had three hits, including a double, and two RBIs in the second game to lead Dell Rapids.  Jack Henry had two hits, one a double, with two RBIs.  K. Eastman also had two hits, one a double, with an RBI.  T. Eastman had a double with three RBIs.  Will Jaton also had a hit.

T. Eastman pitched six innings giving up five runs, three earned, on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts.  CJ Smith pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up five runs on a walk.  Jaton pitched the final 2/3 of an inning giving up two runs on a hit with two walks and a strikeout.

Dell Rapids (8-5 overall, 7-2 vs Class B, 5-0 vs Region 3B) will host Baltic on Friday, April 30th.  The game can be seen on Big Sioux Media with first pitch at 5:30 p.m.

The Dell Rapids High School club baseball team continued their hot play as of late with a big win in Salem on Sunday, April 25th.  Dell Rapids scored eight runs in the first two innings on their way to a 13-4 victory over McCook Central/Montrose.  This was the third win in a row for Dell Rapids and fifth in their last six games.

An error by the MCM defense on the first batter of the game put Landon Ruesink on base for Dell Rapids.  He moved to second on a groundout by Jack Henry.  Ruesink stole third during Austin Henry’s at-bat, and A. Henry was eventually hit by a pitch. Kaeden Eastman hit an RBI groundout to the shortstop for the second out, but it brought home Ruesink.  It looked as if MCM might get out of an early jam by only allowing one run.

Dell Rapids, however, was just getting started.  Another hit batter, followed by three straight singles and a walk, and Dell Rapids all of the sudden had three more runs for a total of four in the inning.  Will Jaton drove home two, and Treyse Eastman drove home the fourth run, and Dell Rapids led 4-0 after the top of the first inning was complete.

Dell Rapids continued to pound the ball in the second inning.  J. Henry started things with a triple.  K. Eastman had a two-run single, Aiden Boechler had an RBI triple, and Jaton had an RBI sacrifice fly as Dell Rapids scored four more times in the top of the second inning.  MCM did pick up three runs off Dell Rapids starter Ruesink before relief pitcher Brady Larson shut the door limiting the damage.

K. Eastman had another RBI groundout in the top of the third inning to push the Dell Rapids lead to 9-3.  Dell Rapids had another four-run inning in the top of the fifth.  CJ Smith stole home for the 10th run of the game.  K. Eastman drove home two more with a single to left field and then later scored on an error to make the score 13-3.  MCM did score a run in the bottom of the fifth to stay out of the 10-run rule, which was also the final run scored in the game.

Ten different Dell Rapids players got a hit in the game.  Boechler and J. Henry both had a triple, and Smith had a double.  K. Eastman had two hits.  Ruesink, A. Henry, Jaton, T. Eastman, Dylan Mathis, and Tyler Tjaden all had singles.  E. Eastman drove home five runs in the game.  Jaton had three RBIs.  Boechler and T. Eastman both had one RBI.

Ruesink started the game on the mound giving up three earned runs on no hits with four walks and a strikeout in 1 1/3 innings.  Larson earned the win pitching 5 2/3 very effective innings giving up one earned run on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts.  Larson threw just 79 pitches, 53 of those for strikes.

Dell Rapids improves to 7-4 on the season.  They will host Yankton in a varsity only double-header on Monday, April 26th.

Dell Rapids won their second straight game, and fourth out of their last five, after a 7-2 win over Garretson on Friday, April 23rd in Garretson.

Dell Rapids was in control of this game from the start.  The first three batters of the game for Dell Rapids walked to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the first inning.  Kaeden Eastman hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring home the first run of the game.  Will Jaton followed with an RBI single, and Austin Henry scored on an error to give Dell Rapids a 3-0 lead.

Dell Rapids added three more runs in the top of the third inning.  A. Henry and Aiden Boechler scored on errors.  Treyse Eastman also hit a sacrifice fly, and Dell Rapids lead 6-0.  The seventh run of the game was scored on an RBI single by A. Henry in the top of the fourth for a 7-0 lead.

Jack Henry had a strong four innings on the mound.  He held Garretson hitless through four innings, but ran into a little trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning.  J Schroder finally got the first hit of the game for Garretson to start the inning.  The next two batters walked loading the bases with no outs, which ended the night on the mound for J. Henry.  Brady Larson came into the game to pitch inheriting those three runners with no outs.  Larson got a strikeout in his first batter faced.  He got the next batter to ground into a fielder’s choice, and then T. Eastman threw out a base runner attempting to steal to end the innings.  Garretson was only able to get one run after loading the bases with no outs in the fifth inning.  Garretson got one more run in the seventh after a couple of walks and an error in the inning.

A. Henry had two hits and an RBI.  Brayden Pankonen had two hits, including a double.  K. Eastman had a hit and an RBI.  Jaton also had a hit with an RBI.  Boechler, J. Henry, and Dylan Mathis all had a hit in the game as well.

J. Henry pitched four innings giving up an earned run on one hit with four walks and six strikeouts.  Larson pitched the final three innings giving up a run, which was unearned, on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Dell Rapids will play McCook Central in Salem on Sunday, April 25th at 3:00 p.m.  They will then host Yankton in a double-header on Monday, April 26th.

The Dell Rapids High School club baseball team played three games in Madison over the weekend of April 17th and 18th and finished the weekend going 2-1 in those games.

Their only game on Saturday, April 17th was against Woonsocket/Wessington Springs/Sanborn Central, and they earned an 8-2 victory.  Dell Rapids scored two runs in the top of the first and held a 6-0 lead after they were done batting in the top of the fourth inning.  W/WS/SC scored two in the bottom of the fourth, but Dell Rapids got a run in the fifth and seventh inning to secure the victory.

Aiden Boechler had a double and two RBIs.  Brayden Pankonen had a hit and two RBIs.  Kaeden Eastman finished with a double and an RBI.  Brady Larson had a hit and an RBI.  Landon Ruesink, Will Jaton, and Treyse Eastman all had a hit in the game.  Jack Henry pitched five innings giving up two runs, one earned, on one hit while walking two and striking out seven.  Larson pitched the final two innings giving up just one hit while striking out six batters.

The second game of the weekend was against Hamlin on Sunday, April 18th.  Hamlin survived an exciting Dell Rapids comeback to earn a 9-5 win in extra innings.

Hamlin scored a run right away in the top of the first inning, but Dell Rapids responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning for a 2-1 lead.  Hamlin took advantage of a walk, hit batter, and two errors by Dell Rapids in the top of third inning and scored four runs for a 5-2 lead.  Dell Rapids added a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-3.  Dell Rapids scored two times with two outs on a fielding error in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game 5-5 and force extra innings.  Hamlin scored four times in the top of the ninth inning on two hits and two errors by Dell Rapids and held on for the 9-5 win.

Austin Henry had the only RBI for Dell Rapids in the game.  Ruesink, Pankonen, Jaton, Larson, Boechler, and J. Henry each had a hit.  CJ Smith pitched three innings giving up five runs, two earned, on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts.  T. Eastman pitched 5 2/3 innings giving up four runs, one earned, on four hits with four walks and 12 strikeouts.  Ruesink pitched the final 1/3 of an inning earning a strikeout.

Dell Rapids bounced back in their next game and defeated Madison 8-4 on Sunday.

Dell Rapids scored two in the top of the first inning only to see Madison score three in the bottom of the first for a 3-2 lead.  Dell Rapids then shut down the Madison offense until the sixth inning.  Dell Rapids added two more runs in the top of the second, one in the top of the third, and another in the top of the six for a 6-3 lead.  Madison scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 6-4, but Dell Rapids scored two more times in the top of the seventh for the win.

T. Eastman finished with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs in the game.  Boechler and A. Henry both had two hits and an RBI.  K. Eastman and CJ Smith both had a hit with an RBI.  Ruesink collected two hits, and J. Henry added a double.  Pankonen pitched five innings giving up three earned runs on four hits with five walks and five strikeouts.  A. Henry pitched the final two innings giving up an unearned run on no hits while walking two and striking out six batters.

Dell Rapids (5-4) will travel to Garretson on Friday, April 23rd.