Post 33 Titans Lose Final Four Regular Season Games

WATERTOWN / HURON, SD – The Sturgis Post 33 Titans made a swing through eastern South Dakota last weekend, dropping four games in a row to wrap up their summer Legion baseball season.

The Titans lost a doubleheader to Watertown on Saturday, 13-5 in game one and 9-4 in game two. 

The Titans had a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth in game one after a Watertown error.  Post 17 captured the lead, 8-4, in the bottom of the fourth after four singles and a walk. Kaden Rylance hit a grand slam to left field in the bottom of the fifth for the Watertown to put the game out of reach.

Jackson Maag got the win for Watertown Post 17 and Brody Royer took the loss for Sturgis Post 33.  Post 17 collected 10 hits and were led by Rylance, who went 3-for-4 at the dish. Sturgis had seven hits, with Dylan Christianson going 2-for-4, scoring one run. 

Post 33 jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second in game two, until Watertown plated three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 3-2 lead.  

The game was tied at 3-3 until the bottom of the fifth, when Post 17 scored four runs to jump out to an 8-4 lead.  Watertown scored one more in the sixth to secure the 9-4 win.

Talan Jurgens earned the win for Watertown Post 17, giving up seven hits and four runs over seven innings, striking out two and walking one. Connor Cruickshank took the loss for Sturgis, surrendering 10 hits and eight runs over five innings, striking out one and walking three.

Beau Peters went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Sturgis Post 33 in hits. The Titans had seven hits in the game.  Watertown pounded out 12 hits, led by Nathan Briggs with four hits in four at bats. 

At Huron on Sunday, the Post 7 baseball team beat Sturgis 4-2 in game one and 3-1 in game two. 

The Titans led 1-0 after one inning in game one when Conner Cruickshank grounded out, scoring Aiden Wood from third base.  

Huron brought three runs across in the bottom of the second and led 3-1 due to errors by the Titan defense.  Post 7 plated one more in the third to extend their lead to 4-1.  Post 33 scored a run in the top of the seventh following a double by Owen Cass, who scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Beau Peters.  That ended the scoring and Huron got the 4-2 victory.  

Layne Wenzel secured a complete game win for Huron Post 7, allowing five hits and two runs over seven innings, striking out six and walking two.  Owen Cass took the loss for Sturgis, giving up six hits and four runs over five and one-third innings, striking out five and walking five.

Game two was another close affair, with Huron scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead.

Post 33 got on the board in the top of the third as Adam Flohr singled, scoring Evan Stroud to cut into the Post 7 lead.  Huron held on to their 3-1 lead to get the win in game two.

Mason Davis got the victory for Huron, giving up five hits and one run over five innings, striking out one and walking two.  Dylan Christianson took the loss for Sturgis (10-27), giving up five hits and three runs over six innings, striking out one and walking four. 

Both teams had five hits in the game, with Cruickshank going 2-for-4 for Sturgis and Davis going 2-for-3 for Huron.

Post 33 is hanging on to the final spot in the Legion playoff standings as of Monday and would play the #1 seeded Harrisburg Gold squad if they make the post season.