Bluebirds sail past Akron, into second round at state amateur baseball tournament
Aug. 3—MITCHELL — Behind a three-run first inning, Tabor jumped in front early and didn't look back, notching an 8-1 win over Akron (Iowa) in the first round of the Class B state amateur baseball tournament on Thursday afternoon at Cadwell Park.
After watching a late lead slip away in their opening contest of last season's state tournament, the victory was a little extra sweet for the Bluebirds, who are off to the second round for the first time since 2019.
"It feels great," said winning pitcher Chase Kortan, who tossed a complete game with five strikeouts while allowing seven hits and two walks. "We haven't had a first-round win here in quite some time, so it's nice to get over that hump."
Akron managed two hits, including an RBI double from Dan Smith, off of Kortan in the top of the first inning, but the advantage was short-lived.
As Kortan settled into a groove, the Rebels had five hits the rest of the way. On the other side, Tabor's offense churned out 15 hits and steadily added cushion to their advantage with runs in the third, fifth, sixth and eighth innings.
"We had 15 hits, I threw a pretty good game and everyone made defensive plays," Kortan said. "Everything just came together."
Joey Slama recorded three hits and three runs batted in to lead the Bluebirds, as Riley Rothschadl, Nolan Carda and Chris Sutera all added three hits of their own.
For Akron, Sam Mullinix had three of the team's seven hits, with Tanner Bundy scoring the Rebels' lone run.
Tabor (9-8) advances to the second round to play the two-time defending champion Dell Rapids Mudcats — which defeated Lennox/Chancellor/Worthing 12-2 via the run rule in seven innings on Thursday — at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
"That's going to be a fun one Sunday night," Kortan said. "They're a very good ball club and back-to-back champs, so hopefully we can give 'em a good one."
