Cardinals earn spot in Amateur State B

The Flandreau Cardinals punched their ticket to the Class B Amateur Baseball State Tournament on Thursday as they beat the Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks 6-2.
A four-run sixth inning and then two more runs in the ninth led the Cardinals to the victory. They trailed 1-0 after four innings as the Gamecocks hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
J Patterson walked to begin the top of the sixth and Keith Cutler drew a walk as well to put two runners on with one out. JaColby Anderson then hit an RBI single to tie the game and T Huber followed with another RBI single to give the Cardinals the lead. Austin Koenig followed with an RBI double and then Huber scored on a steal of home to make it 4-1.
Luke Gassman led off the ninth with a single and then scored on a double from Cutler to make it 5-1. Anderson followed with another RBI single to push the lead to 6-1 heading into the final half inning.
Hartford/Humboldt hit another RBI single in the bottom of the ninth but the Gamecocks were unable to score any more runs and the Cardinals secured the victory.
The Cardinals had 10 hits as a team. Anderson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Huber was 1-for-2 with an RBI. Cutler and Koenig were each 2-for-4 with an RBI. Gassman was 2-for-4.
Zach Wallner got the start for Flandreau and pitched the first six and a third innings. He gave up one earned run on seven hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Severtson pitched the final inning and two thirds and gave up one unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Flandreau will open the State Tournament in Mitchell on Friday at 11 a.m. and the Cardinals will be taking on Alexandria.