Dell Rapids 16U held off Baltic in a back-and-forth game on Monday, June 6th. It was the first game of the I-29 League season for Dell Rapids.
Lincoln Fersdahl opened the scoring in the top of the first with an RBI single. Baltic scored three times in their half of the first on three hits. Baltic extended the lead to 4-1 after an RBI ground out in the bottom of the second inning.
Dell Rapids pulled within a run after a two-run top of the third. Fersdahl brought home Tad Tjaden for the second time in the game on an RBI sacrifice fly. Luke Schoolmeester followed with an RBI single. Dell Rapids then took the lead in the top of the fifth with four runs. Sutton Williams scored on a wild pitch, Schoolmeester had an RBI single, Frost had an RBI single, and Cole Ruesink scored on an error for a 7-4 lead.
Baltic added a run in the bottom of the fifth. Both teams scored in the sixth inning. Fersdahl drove home his third run with a single. Ruesink also had an RBI single giving Dell Rapids a 9-5 lead. Baltic also scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 9-7. Baltic put together a two-our rally in the bottom of the seventh getting one run, but Dell Rapids was able to stop the rally for the win.
Fersdahl finished with three hits and three RBIs. Schoolmeester had two hits and two RBIs. Ruesink had two singles and an RBI. Frost had a single and an RBI. Tjaden, Williams, Quinn Carr, and Talan Millage all had a hit. Ruesink pitched three innings allowing four earned runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Konrad Richeal pitched four innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts.