STURGIS, S.D. — The Sturgis Scooper baseball team looked to be in mid-season form on opening day at Strong Field, beating both Rapid City Central and Huron by the ten run rule on a chilly spring Saturday.
In game one, senior left hander David Anderson took the mound for the Scoopers and shut down the Cobblers through two innings, using off-speed pitches and fastballs to keep the Central hitters off balance. The Cobblers had the bases loaded in the top of the second inning with two outs but Central designated hitter Ben Harms tried to take second base on a wild pitch, but had to retreat back to first and got thrown out to end the inning. The Scoopers led 1-0 after two innings.
Rapid City Central plated a run in the top of the third to tie up the game at 1-1. The Scooper bats heated up in the bottom of the third. Leadoff hitter R.J. Andrzejewski walked with one out and moved to second on a single by junior Kaden Olson. Sophomore shortstop Owen Cass drove in both Andrzejewski and Olson with a single to give the Scoopers a 3-1 lead. Cleanup hitter David Anderson singled, then catcher Ridge Inhofer doubled to drive in Cass to extend the Sturgis lead. A sacrifice fly by Kain Peters scored Anderson to give the Scoopers a 5-1 lead after three innings.
Sturgis poured it on in the bottom of the fourth, scoring six runs and giving the Scoopers an 11-1 lead. But the Cobblers kept battling and scored three runs in the top of the fifth on singles by Dawson Buckley and Aiden Mason, and a two-RBI triple by Kayden Jones. Central couldn’t stop the potent Scooper offense as Sturgis scored three in the bottom of the fifth to beat Rapid City by the ten-run rule, 14-4 in five innings.
“Central is a young team and they will get better,” said Scooper head coach Dominic Bradford. “We are focusing on finishing games this year and we had an opportunity to end it in the top of the fifth but we let our focus slip a little bit, something I was expecting, with it being our first game.”
Anderson got the win for Sturgis, with Dustin Alan recording the save. Kaden Olson had three hits, three runs and a run batted in to lead the Scoopers offensively. Sturgis had 10 hits and left seven on base. Kayden Jones had two hits, two runs and two runs batted in for Rapid City. Pitcher Kyle Schlueter took the loss for the Cobblers.
Central and Huron played in game two, with Huron beating the Cobblers by the ten-run rule, 19-1.
The Scoopers and Tigers battled in the third matchup of the day at Strong Field and on paper it looked to be a much closer game. Sophomore pitcher Kain Peters started for Sturgis and threw fireballs early, striking out the first two Huron batters and setting the tone with his overpowering fastball.
The Scooper offense got going quickly as Andrzjewski led off with a single and Kaden Olson drove him in for the first run of the game with a triple. Cass singled, scored and drove in a run, with Anderson crushing a double to right field and driving in a run as well in the bottom of the first. Sturgis led 4-0 after one inning and didn’t look back, scoring one in the third and four in the fifth inning to take a 9-0 lead when Bradford decided to bring in relief pitcher Kelton Olson. Peters left the game after 68 pitches with nine strikeouts, giving up only one hit.
“Kain Peters threw really well today,” Bradford said. “I’ve had the pleasure of watching Kain continue to grow as a pitcher since his 8th grade season, and if he can stay healthy he will be one of our bulldogs going forward.”
Junior Kelton Olson came in as a relief pitcher, giving up one hit and getting the save. Olson also added three runs batted in. Anderson led the Scoopers with two hits, three runs scored and one RBI. Sturgis had nine total hits and two left on base as they smoked the Tigers 10-0 in six innings. The Scoopers got the bat on the ball in both games, recording only one strikeout in game one and one strikeout in game two. The Scoopers, 2-0 on the season, face the Harrisburg Tigers in a doubleheader on Wednesday evening at Strong Field.
“We are approaching every game the same way this year and the mindset is to play every game like it’s the last one,” said Bradford. “We’re going to go into the (Harrisburg) game with intensity and focus. If we play up to our ability and play clean defense we will be in a heavyweight battle.”
The first pitch in the doubleheader versus Harrisburg is scheduled for 5pm. The second game will start 20 minutes following the end of game one.
