The West Central high school baseball team qualified for the state tournament with two wins at the super regional in Humboldt on Tuesday, May 19th. The team earned wins over Hanson/Bridgewater-Emery and Sioux Falls Christian.
West Central 10, Hanson/Bridgewater-Emery 2
Hanson/Bridgewater-Emery broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the second for a 2-0 lead. West Central responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning highlighted by RBI hits from Beckett Everson and Gunnar Alfson. JT Steckley added an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 5-2. West Central put the game away with five insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Steckley had two hits, one a double, and two RBIs. Everson added two hits with two RBIs. Alfson finished with two hits, including a double, and an RBI. Nick Lorang also had two hits and one RBI. CJ Den Boer ended with two singles. Zach Lorang, Eli Koehn, and Hayden Whiting all had one hit each, and Hayes Cain had an RBI. Alfson pitched six innings and allowed two unearned runs on three hits and four walks with 12 strikeouts. Taten Van Overbeke pitched one inning and allowed two walks and recored two strikeouts.
West Central 5, Sioux Falls Christian 2
Early runs helped West Central stay in front of Sioux Falls Christian to earn a trip to the state tournament. Steckley had an RBI single in the bottom of the first for an early 1-0 lead. Den Boer had an RBI single, and Steckley drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to extend the lead to 3-0. Whiting would score on a wild pitch, and Alfson followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to put West Central ahead 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth. They would maintain that lead until the top of the seventh. Sioux Falls Christian scored two times with two outs, but West Central held for the win.
Den Boer finished with two singles and an RBI. Steckley had a hit with two RBIs. Everson and Whiting each had one single. Alfson had an RBI. Everson pitched six innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. Den Boer pitched one inning and allowed two hits while recording a strikeout.
