Flandreau Blue Teal Emmott Nathan blasted two pitches out of the park but the Flandreau Cardinals were the ones to take the win, 14-11 on Thursday, July 17.
Both teams had strong at-bats with three home runs in amongst the 16 hits for the Cardinals and 14 for the Blue Teal.
The first hit of the game came in the bottom of the second when Bret Severtson sent a pitch to left field but was thrown out on a fielders choice in the next at bat.
A Grant Hieb weak hit to the Blue Teal pitcher Nathan resulted in a throwing error to score courtesy runner Kasen Grengs.
In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals had two singles and a sacrifice fly to score three runs shutting the Teal down 4-0 after three innings.
The Blue Teal wouldnt find a base until the top of the fourth but they did so in big fashion scoring five runs off five hits and two Cardinal errors.
After a Michael Witte walk, Nathan smacked his first home run which was followed by three singles and a double from his Blue Teal teammates giving the Teal the lead 5-4.
The Cardinals fired back in their half of the inning and took advantage of a couple Blue Teal miscues to score two runs off three hits taking the lead back, 7-5.
The Blue Teal shuffled the lead to their side in the top of the fifth with a sac fly from Kolby Peters and a two-run double from Tash Lunday putting the score at 8-7.
Austin Koenig made the score 9-8 in favor of the Cardinals in the bottom of the fifth when he took a Nathan pitch for long ball out of Cardinal Field in a two run blast over the left field fence.
Both teams failed to score in the sixth inning but three straight base hits for the Teal in the seventh put them ahead 10-9.
The Cardinals put up four in the seventh to make the score 13-10. Koenig and Brian McGuire both had RBI singles and Austin King put a pitch in the gap for an RBI double.
Both teams scored a lone run in the eighth and the Cardinals held the Teal scoreless in the ninth taking the win 14-11.
Starters were Drew Weber for the Cardinals and Nathan for the Blue Teal.
Weber threw five innings, gave out five hits and five runs, all earned. He was relieved by Grengs who was awarded the win over 2.1 innings. He gave up seven hits and five runs. Noel Burgos closed the game for 2.2 innings giving up one of Nathans home runs along with a double.
For the Blue Teal, Nathan went five innings giving up nine runs off eight hits, walking four and striking out only one. Koening got his home run off Nathan. His reliever was Sam Gassman for 1.1 inning who gave out four runs off three hits. Closing out the game was Peters in 1.2 innings of work giving up two hits and one run.
There were few strikeouts in the high hitting affair as the Teal struck out five times and the Cardinals only once.
Koening and King both earned three RBI on the night and Brian McGuire had two. Koening had the homerun along with two one-base hits. King had a double and Keith Cutler had three singles. McGuire also had two RBI off his lone single for the Cardinals.
Doubles came off the Blue Teal bats of Tanner Christenson, Lunday and Tristan VanWassenhove.
Nathan led all batters with his two homeruns and a single for three RBI. Micah Otto and Christenson each had two RBI.
District 4B action next
The game closed out the regular seasons for both Flandreau amateur teams.
The Cardinals finished with a record of 10-9. In District 4B play, they are the four seed and play five seed Dell Rapids Mudcats on Saturday at 2:30 pm.
The Blue Teal closed the year at 9-10 and are seeded seventh and will face number 10 seed Colman, Friday at 8 pm.
All District 4B games are played at Flynn Field in Madison.
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