Game 2 rally falls short as Mitchell baseball swept by Yankton
Apr. 18—MITCHELL — Despite a furious late rally in Game 2 of a Thursday night doubleheader, Mitchell High School baseball dropped a pair of contests to Yankton at Drake Field.
Down 6-0, Mitchell pulled back three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to send Game 2 to extra innings. But once there, Yankton had the final say, as a sacrifice fly gave the Bucks a 7-6 win. Yankton also won the first game 13-0 in six innings.
During the rally, Mitchell used hits from Parker Mandel, Mason Herman, Landen Soulek, Jaxson Hartman and Conor Mattke to climb back into the game. Hartman and Lincoln Bottum also drew walks during the sequence.
"It was great to see a lot of heart there at the end of the second game, especially after dropping that first game, because that was tough," said interim head coach Caleb Crist. "... I'm really happy with the fight this team has. We can compete with anyone we want to, we just need to find ways to turn it on sometimes."
Herman finished with two hits and two runs batted in, as Soulek, Hartman, Mattke and Hudson Borgan each drove in one run. Blake Brosz went six innings with five strikeouts against one walk and one earned run.
In Game 1, Yankton jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back, adding to the advantage in the second, third and sixth en route to a 13-0 win in a contest shortened to six innings due to the 10-run rule.
The Kernels were held to four hits, with Bottum getting two base knocks and Hartman drawing a pair of walks.
Lukas Kampshoff, who scored the winning run in Game 2, had three hits and three runs scored in Game 1 for the Bucks. Mark Kathol picked up the six-inning shutout on the mound, recording six strikeouts and two walks.
Mitchell (1-4) returns to the field on Monday, April 22, for a doubleheader with defending state champion Pierre.
