Amateur baseball roundup for July 2-4: Corsica, Platte split annual 4th of July series
Jul. 5—CORSICA, S.D. — Though the Corsica entered July with just a single win on its amateur baseball record, the Horned Frogs came agonizingly close to a sweep of Sunshine League rival Platte in the clubs’ annual 4th of July series.
Opening the home-and-home series in Corsica on Thursday, the Horned Frogs squashed the Killer Tomatoes 11-5 on Thursday, but Platte rescued a split with a 12-11 comeback win at its home field on Friday.
Corsica surged in front 8-2 with a five-run fifth inning on Thursday, as the first seven Frogs batters reached safely via five singles and two Platte errors. Platte climbed back to within 8-5 in the top of the eighth, but Corsica closed out the game with a matching three-run bottom half of the eighth.
Tyson Wentland went 7 1/3 innings in his start on the mound for Corsica, limiting Platte to four hits while yielding three walks, and then Blake Moke recorded the final five outs in a shutout relief appearance. Michael Buitenbos was hit with the pitching loss for Platte in a four-inning start.
On offense, Wentland added three hits and a walk, coming around to score three times, as Jarrett Olawsky offered three hits and four runs batted in for the Frogs.
On Friday, Platte led 7-3 after four innings, then Corsica used another five-run frame in the sixth to jump ahead 11-7 heading into the bottom of the seventh. From there, the Killer Tomatoes scored the game’s final five runs, including four in the eighth, to take the victory.
With two outs in the eighth and trailing 11-10, Richard Sternberg provided the game-winning hit, singling to score Buitenbos and Ray Travnicek for the 12-11 lead. Sternberg then took the mound for the top of the ninth inning and retired the Frogs in order to end the contest.
The sequence was part of a big game for Sternberg, who earned the pitching win with 2 2/3 shutout innings along with posting three hits, two walks, three RBIs, and two runs scored.
Across the two games, Preston Nedved collected four hits, including two home runs, with six RBIs, while Matt Link added four hits with three for extra bases and four RBIs for Platte.
Corsica had five players get multiple hits on Friday, led by three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored for Jayce Slaba. Blake Moke also had two hits, including a home run, while AJ Goeden drove in three runs on two hits.
Brendan Wentland got the start for Corsica and lasted four innings, as Moke was tagged with the pitching loss in a relief effort that spanned 3 2/3 innings.
Platte (6-4) visits Alexandria on Monday, July 6, while Corsica (2-11) hosts the Parkston Mudcats on Thursday, July 9.
Tabor 16, Lesterville 0 (7 inn.), in Lesterville: Josiah Peterson tossed a seven-inning shutout with eight strikeouts while the Bluebirds’ bats stacked up 19 hits in a dominating South Central League victory on Thursday. Peterson also had four hits to lead six Tabor batters with multiple hits. Hunter Hallock, Joey Slama, Landon Schmidt, Matt Brown and Nolan Carda all mashed home runs, as Slama, Brown and Carda each had three RBIs. Alex Wagner was the pitcher of record in the loss for the Broncs, lasting 2 1/3 innings in his start as the team used four arms to get through the shortened contest. Tyler Elder and Derek Quame had two hits apiece.
Parkston Mudcats 14, Dimock/Emery 3 (7 inn.), in Parkston: A quick start didn’t let up for the Parkston Mudcats, who took out Dimock/Emery in a run-rule shortened Sunshine League contest on Friday. The Mudcats scored four runs in the first inning and added five in the fourth and four in the fifth as part of their onslaught, which featured eight hits, 11 walks and six Raptor errors. Brady Albrecht drove in five runs on two hits to power the Mudcats, as Jeff Harris and Brayden Jervik both added two hits. Jervik, Luke Bormann, Max Scott and Taite Klumb all worked two walks. Jake Weber earned the pitching win with a five-inning start. All three runs for the Raptors came on solo home runs, as Dane Toman, Josh Engquist and Phil Johnson all cleared the fence once, accounting for three of the team’s four total hits. Toman was hit with the loss in a start that lasted 3 2/3 innings.
Menno 12, Freeman 8, in Menno: The Mad Frogs celebrated the United States’ semiquincentennial by using a big seventh inning to fend off Freeman in South Central League action on Saturday. Entering the fifth inning, Menno led 2-1 before the two teams woke up to score in eight of the final nine half-innings. That included a five-run seventh from the Frogs, which broke open a 5-all tie. Nick Ratzloff and Macon Oplinger each posted three hits and two RBIs, as Kory Keppen added two hits and three RBIs. Jared Hegdahl went six innings in a start on the mound, while Doug Hall earned the pitching win by hurling the final three frames in relief. Freeman pounded out 17 hits, led by four from Jake Weier and three each from Bailey Sage and Trey Ortman. Tyce Ortman also went six innings in his start, though Evan Scharberg was the pitcher of record with the loss in a one-inning relief stint.
