STURGIS, SD – The Sturgis Scooper baseball team earned their second win of the season on Friday night at Strong Field, pounding out 13 hits and beating the Douglas Patriots, 10-2.
The Patriots took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as Coltin Elliott scored on a single by Lucas Giersburg. Sturgis answered in the bottom half of the inning when Jace Thurman singled, stole second, then advanced to third on a passed ball. Dalyn Dschaak cracked a single to left field, scoring Thurman to tie the game at 1-1.
The Scoopers tacked on two more runs in the second inning, two in the fourth and three more runs in the fifth to take an 8-1 lead headed into the sixth inning.
Sturgis pitcher Elijah Stroud made quick work of the Patriots in the top of the sixth, forcing two fly ball outs and striking out one batter to keep Douglas off the scoreboard. The Scoopers had two on base with one out in the bottom of the sixth when Bridger Battin stole second and the Patriot defense lost track of Dschaak, who was at third. Dschaak stole home score another Sturgis run. Battin added another as he crossed home plate on a single by Jeren Andrzejewski to give the Scoopers a 10-2 lead. Stroud shut down Douglas in the top of the seventh to earn a complete game win.
Stroud struck out seven, walked one and gave up five hits on 84 pitches to earn his first pitching win of the season. Sturgis (2-6) was led by Dschaak at the plate, as he went 3-for-4 and stole three bases with three runs batted in. Thurman also went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and one RBI. The Scoopers had two fielding errors in the game.
Douglas (0-3) had five hits and were led by Giersburg, who had one hit and one RBI. Aiden Kennedy took the pitching loss for the Patriots, giving up eight hits, walking two and striking out one on 58 pitches.
The Scoopers are in action next on Wednesday as they travel to Gillette to take on the Roughriders in a doubleheader.
