STURGIS, S.D. — The Sturgis Post 33 Titans hosted Spearfish Post 164 in a doubleheader at Strong Field on Tuesday evening and swept the Spartans in their first meeting of the season.
The Titans won game one, 8-5, and then jumped out to an early lead in game two and were victorious by a score of 7-1.
Spearfish took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Ty Sieber and Aiden Haught both singled, then Brady Hartwig made good contact, driving in Sieber for the first run of the game. Titan starting pitcher Dustin Alan walked the next two batters, walking in a run to give the Spartans a two-run lead after one inning.
Gage Murphey walked to lead off the bottom of the second for Post 33, then stole a base to put himself in scoring position. Two batters later, Conner Cruickshank brought Murphey across home plate with a sacrifice fly to put Sturgis on the board. Spearfish led 2-1 headed into the third inning.
Alan found his groove in the third, striking out two Spartans and only throwing 13 pitches in the top half of the inning to hold Spearfish scoreless.
The Titan offense got going in the bottom of the third with singles by Owen Cass, Ridge Inhofer and a double by Alan. Post 33 plated three runs in the inning with two outs to take a 4-2 lead over Post 164 into the fourth inning.
Spearfish made it interesting in the sixth inning, with Kayden Feyereisen and Haught crossing home plate for the Spartans to tie the game up at four apiece. The Sturgis offense opened up the bottom half of the sixth at the top of the order and pounded the ball all over the diamond, scoring four more runs to lead 8-4. Spearfish managed to plate one run in the top of the seventh but closing pitcher Kain Peters kept the Spartans off balance and got the save, as Sturgis downed Spearfish, 8-5 in game one.
Alan got the win for the Post 33 with three strike outs and two walks, giving up two hits in three innings of work. The Titans collected eight hits in the game, led by Murphey, Cruickshank and Cass with two singles each. Sturgis had four stolen bases in the contest, led by R.J. Andrzejewski with two base thefts.
Alec Sundsted took the loss for Post 164. The Spartans had seven hits, led by Haught with a single and a double.
“We are working on making sure we make the simple plays and execute situational hitting,” said Titan head coach Dominic Bradford. “The boys last night were able to make things happen and they played a lot looser than they have been, and ultimately were having fun out there. This is a very difficult game and it’s even more difficult if they aren’t having fun with it.”
Game two was a blowout as the Titans jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, relying on stellar defense and strong pitching to shut down Post 164.
Titan starting pitcher Owen Cass overpowered the Spartans early and kept the Post 164 hitters guessing with a mix of fastballs and change ups and held Spearfish scoreless in the first inning. Kayden Feyereisen started for Spearfish and walked the first two Titans in the bottom half of the inning, before Ridge Inhofer pounded a single up the middle, followed by a two-RBI single by David Anderson. Anderson crossed home on a bunt single by Cass to give Sturgis a 3-0 lead. Post 164 loaded the bases in the top of the second but the Sturgis defense ended the inning with a 6-4-3 double play and led 3-0 after two full innings.
Spearfish got on the scoreboard in the third, as Brady Hartwig cracked a single off of Cass, scoring Noah Mollman. That was the only run the Spartans would score, as Sturgis plated three runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth to take a 7-1 win over Post 164.
Cass got the win for Sturgis, throwing 60 pitches through 3 2/3 innings of work, striking out four and walking three. Ridge Inhofer was credited with the save for the Titans. Sturgis had 10 hits in the contest, led by Dustin Alan, who went 3-for-3 and scored two runs.
Feyereisen took the loss for Spearfish. The Spartans managed just three hits in the game, with Hartwig collecting one hit and one RBI for Post 164.
The two wins improve Sturgis Post 33 to 9-14 on the season and move them into 14th place in the State American Legion baseball standings. The top 16 teams make the postseason in Legion baseball. Post 33 has a tough schedule in the final two weeks of the regular season, playing both Rapid City Post 320 and Post 22 two times.
“The last two weeks are going to be extremely challenging,” said Bradford. “We were sitting at #17 and these two wins were enough to get us back into the playoff hunt. We need to play with the same energy we had tonight and win a few more games.”
