ROX RELIEF PITCHER RILEY SAMMON picked up the win Sunday evening over Rosen in the Teal League Playoffs in Ortonville. Sammon pitched one and one-third innings as the Rox defeated Rosen, 8-7 in 10 innings. The Rox will play in Madison this Saturday, July 31 against the winner of the Rosen/Madison game at 6:30 p.m. If the Rox were to lose that game, a second game would be played to determine the number one seed for the Region 9C Tournament which will also be held in Madison.
Rox advance to Regions with two wins last weekend
The Ortonville Rox advanced to the region tournament this past weekend with a pair of wins; 10 – 3 over Canby and 8 – 7 over Rosen in 10 innings.
The Rox fell behind early down in Rosen last Saturday against Canby who scored a run in the first and third innings. The Rox exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-2 lead. Matt Fellows led off the inning with a single, Jeff Watson followed with an RBI single, Chris Fellows doubled to plate Jeff Watson, John Thomas then singled to reach first and Chance Haugen then hit a two run double to the gap, plating Chris Fellows and John Thomas. After a couple of outs, Riley Sammon doubled in Haugen and Andrew Treinen followed with an RBI single of his own.
The Rox added another run in the sixth on a double by Chance Haugen, single by Joe Fuller and a double play scoring Haugen. Two more runs scored in the seventh when Matt Fellows had a leadoff walk followed by a Jeff Watson single. After an error moved the runners up, John Thomas had an RBI single and Joe Fuller added a sacrifice fly making the score 9–2 in favor of the Rox. Canby scored a run in the eighth but the Rox matched it with a run of their own on a Jeff Watson sacrifice fly.
Joe Fuller pitched an excellent game, going seven innings and giving up two runs on two hits while striking out 10. Curt Schake pitched the final two innings giving up one run on three hits while striking out one.
Leading hitters for the game were Jeff Watson with three hits. John Thomas and Chance Haugen with two hits while Riley Sammon, Andrew Treinen, Matt Fellows, Tim Haugen, Chris Fellows and Joe Fuller each got a hit. Chance Haugen hit two doubles with Riley Sammon and Chris Fellows each getting a double.
On Sunday, the Rox were able to host two games with Madison defeating Canby 13–6 and the Rox defeated the Express 8–7 in 10 innings.
Rosen drew first “blood” in the game, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth. The Rox came back with a three spot of their own in the bottom the inning when Riley Sammon was hit by a pitch and then stole second. Andrew Treinen walked and then Riley stole third, putting runners at first and third with no outs. Matt Fellows hit a sacrifice fly to plate Sammon. Jeff Watson worked a walk and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. John Thomas followed with an RBI infield hit plating Treinen, with Watson scoring on the overthrow.
The Express scored one in the top of the eighth to go ahead 4–3. The Rox exploded in their half of the inning when Jeff Watson, Chris Fellows, John Thomas and Chance Hagen got consecutive singles to score two runs and give the lead back to the Rox. Joe Fuller then hit a ball to deep right-center field for a sacrifice fly and Cory Stattelman then singled to score Chance Haugen. When the inning was over, the Rox had surged to a 7–4 lead. Not to be denied, the Express came back and scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the score at seven.
Jeff Watson doubled in the bottom of the ninth but the locals could not come up with a big hit so it was off to extra innings. Rosen ended up going three up and three down in the top of the 10th, thanks to the right arm of Matt Fellows who threw out two Rosen runners attempting to steal to get the potential winning run into scoring position.
The bottom of the 10th proved to be quite eventful. John Thomas reached on an error and went to second on a Chance Haugen walk. After a fly out, Cory Stattelman got the game winning hit down the left field line scoring Thomas from second.
Chris Fellows started on the hill for the Rox and threw eight and two-thirds innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits while collecting 12 strikeouts. Riley Sammon came on to get the win, going one and one-third innings giving up no runs on two hits while striking out one.
“This was a real good weekend for us. We got two wins to put us in the Regional Tournament and we are playing pretty good baseball. The Rosen game was really exiting and it was nice to see a big crowd take in the action,” stated Rox Manager Ron Thomas.
The Rox now go down to Madison next Saturday, July 31 to try and secure the number one seed. They will play the winner of the Rosen/Madison game at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday night. If they were to lose that game, there would be a second game (seven inning game) to determine the number one seed to the Region 9C Tournament which will also be held in Madison.
The Rox players and management would like to thank our fans for coming out and watching. It really gives us a big boost. We would also like to thank all of our sponsors and donors and volunteers who make it possible for us to put a team on the field.
VFW 13-14 year olds move on to State in Flandreau
The Big Stone City, SD/Ortonville VFW 13-14 year old baseball team moved onto the State “B” Tournament in Flandreau, SD after play on Thursday, July 22.
The first game played in Clear Lake, SD pitted a tough Orient-Faulkton team against the Big Stone City/Ortonville Bombers. Wyatt Dewitt threw four solid innings with Travis Westlund and Riley Thompson finishing the game.
Defensively, the team was led by Joe Larson and Zach Cramer who both made a couple of nice plays in the field. The Bombers won the game, 8-6.
The second game saw Big Stone City/Ortonville against Clear Lake, SD. Keaton Eastman started on the mound against Clear Lake. Clear Lake came out swinging the bats well and took an early lead. Dan Sitter then saw action on the mound. The Bombers couldn’t get the bats going and were defeated by Clear Lake.
Two teams advance to the State Tournament and that win guaranteed the Clear Lake team a trip to Flandreau. This set up the game to decide which of the remaining teams would go to state. This game would be Elkton, SD against the Bombers.
The Bombers started out slow with few runners on base and found themselves trailing to Elkton, 5-1 going into the fifth inning. The Bombers then started their first come back by getting Austin Haas, Jordan Ulrich, Jackson Athey and Eddie Ortega on base with Riley Thompson delivering a big hit to bring the team within two runs. Wyatt Dewitt pitching and Dylan Loraff catching stopped Elkton from scoring.
Big Stone City/Ortonville then came back and scored six runs in the sixth inning with solid base running and good hitting. However, Elkton did not give up and took the lead by two runs in the bottom of the sixth with a grand slam home run.
The Bombers started the last inning two runs down, but they did not give up and scored four runs to take the lead at 15-13. The game ended with Elkton having runners on second and third with two outs when a short line drive between shortstop Travis Westlund and Jackson Athey was caught by Westlund for the final out.
Big Stone City/Ortonville will be making the trip to the South Dakota State B VFW Tournament this weekend, July 29-31 in Flandreau. This is the second VFW or American Legion team to go the a State Tournament this year.
Badgers season ends at State B Tournament in Lennox, SD
The Big Stone Legion Post 229 Badgers had their season come to an end at the South Dakota State B Tournament in Lennox last week.
Big Stone faced the host team Lennox in their first game on Wednesday, July 21 and lost 16-6.
The Badgers had a 2-0 lead in the first inning as Andy Strei walked and Tim Larson singled before both scored on hits from Keven Berdan and Chase Kuefler. Lennox took the lead 3-2 scoring three runs in the bottom of the first on a three-run home run.
Big Stone regained the lead 4-3 in the fourth inning as Evan Sammon singled and scored on a two-run homer from Mike Winther. Lennox scored two runs in the bottom of fourth on a walk and two base hits to go ahead 5-4.
Lennox added another six more runs in the fifth inning before the game was postponed due to rain. Lennox was leading at the time 11-4.
Heavy rains hit the Lennox area that Wednesday night and they were not able to resume action until Thursday, July 22 at 5 p.m. When play resumed, Lennox added another run in the sixth inning, with Big Stone scoring two in the seventh. With the score 12-6, Lennox scored a run in the seventh and won the game in the bottom of the eighth scoring three more runs to win by the 10-run rule.
Tim Larson and Keven Berdan led the Big Stone hitters with two hits a piece. Mike Winther had a home run with Chase Kuefler, Evan Sammon and Isaac Knutson each getting one hit.
Evan Sammon started on the mound and pitched four innings allowing four hits, four walks and three strikeouts. Taylor Radermacher pitched one and one-third innings in relief allowing three hits, four walks and one strikeout. Mike Winther finished the game going two and one-third innings, allowing three hits, two walks and one strikeout.
The Badgers came back that same day and defeated Belle Fouche, 7-5. Big Stone trailed 1-0 until the third inning when they took a 2-1 lead as Austin Schneider and Tyler Adelman both singled and scored following an Andy Strei single and a double by Tim Larson.
Belle Fouche regained the lead 3-2 in the third inning scoring on two hit batters, a passed ball and a base hit. Belle Fouche added a lone run in the fourth to lead 4-2.
The Badgers tied the game at four as Andy Strei led off the fifth inning with a solo home run. Tim Larson walked and scored following base hits from Chase Kuefler, Mike Winther and Taylor Radermacher.
Belle Fouche once again took the lead 5-4 scoring a run in the fifth inning on two base hits and a wild pitch. Big Stone came back again to regain the lead in the sixth inning as Tyler Adelman and Andy Strei walked and Tim Larson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. All three scored on a passed ball and wild pitches to give the Badgers a 7-5 lead.
The Badgers had a big defensive play in the bottom of the sixth to preserve their lead. With one out and the bases loaded, Andy Strei made a great catch going deep at second base. The Belle Fouche runner at third base left too soon on the play. Big Stone threw to third to record the out and they were out of the inning. Both teams were scoreless in the seventh as Big Stone won the rain-shortened seventh inning game.
Andy Strei led the Badger hitters with a home run and single. Tim Larson had a double, Hitting two singles a piece were Tyler Adelman and Chase Kuefler, with Austin Schneider, Mike Winther and Taylor Radermacher each with one hit.
Damian Pillatzki was the winning pitcher going seven innings allowing six hits, four walks and five strikeouts.
With the win, the Badgers advanced to play Garretson on Friday, July 23. The game was scoreless for three innings as both teams played good defense and were unable to score runners on base.
In the fourth inning, Garretson broke out, scoring four runs on a walk, two singles and two doubles. They added another run in the sixth inning to lead 5-0.
In the top of the eighth inning, Andy Strei walked and scored on a Tim Larson double. Chase Kuefler singled to score Larson and then Kuefler scored on a fielder’s choice to narrow the score to 5-3. The Badgers almost took the game away from Garretson in the ninth inning.
With one out, Andy Strei walked, followed by singles from Tim Larson and Keven Berdan. Strei scored on a wild pitch and the runners advanced to second and third base. The next two Big Stone batters flew out and the Badgers came up short losing 5-4.
Tim Larson had a single and double to lead the Big Stone hitters. Keven Berdan had two singles, with Tyler Adelman, Chase Kuefler and Isaac Knutson each with one hit.
Mike Winther started pitching and went three and two-thirds innings, allowing four hits and three walks. Taylor Radermacher pitched two innings allowing one hit and two walks. Isaac Knutson finished the final two and one-third innings, allowing one hit and struck out two.
Big Stone Post 229 Badgers finished their season with a 21-10 record. They won their fourth consecutive Region 1B Championship and won one game at the State Tournament to finish in fifth place. The players and coaches wish to thank all the fans and families for their support during the season. Also, thanks to the Big Stone American Legion for sponsoring the team and to the excellent press coverage from the Ortonville Independent and KDIO and KMSD radio stations during the Region and State Tournaments.
They look forward to more great Badger baseball next year.
Express defeat Madison, lose in extra innings to Ortonville
The Rosen Express opened up the 2010 Teal League Playoffs with a 9-4 win over Madison last Saturday afternoon in Rosen. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Rosen was able to plate eight runs and take control of the game.
Jeremy Ohm started on the mound for Rosen and pitched a complete game to pick up his fourth win of the year. Leading the Express offense was Travis Radermacher with four hits on the day followed by Aaron Adelman, Jared Weber, and Evan Sammon with two hits a piece. Trent Rademacher, Ohm, Redgey Rademacher and Mickey Rademacher each had one hit a piece.
Rosen then traveled to Ortonville on Sunday, July 25 and fell to the Rox in 10 innings.
Rosen would strike first by scoring three runs in the sixth inning. The lead would be short lived however as Ortonville answered back in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own without getting at hit. Rosen would add a lone run in the eighth inning off of a wild pitch.
Ortonville would take a 7-4 lead by scoring four runs in the eighth to take a 7-4 lead into the top of the ninth.
Rosen rallied to tie the game at seven and held Ortonville scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extra innings. Ortonville got the winning run in the 10th inning.
Ethan Scoblic pitched a complete game for Rosen, going all 10 innings. Leading the offense was Aaron Adelman, Jared Weber, Travis Radermacher and Mickey Rademacher with two hits a piece. Trent Rademacher, Redgey Rademacher and Tyler Adelman each had one hit on the night.
Rosen will now take on Madison in a elimination game Saturday afternoon, July 31 in Madison. First pitch is at 4 p.m. A Rosen win would put them in the 6:30 p.m. game against Ortonville and earn them a spot in the Region 9C Tournament.
