STICKS OPEN WITH SPLIT AGAINST PARKSTON, BON HOMME
Trojans win in walk-off fashion; Freeman/Canistota/Marion rallies to win at Tabor
Freeman/Canistota/Marion has started it’s 2024 spring season through the South Dakota High School Baseball Association by splitting a pair of one-run games. The Sticks lost to Parkston in 9-8 in a walk-off win for the Trojans in Parkston Wednesday night, April 10 and then rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat Bon Homme 6-5 in Tabor Saturday afternoon, April 13.
The Sticks were scheduled to travel to Canton Wednesday, April 17 and will play their first home game in Freeman against Dakota Valley Sunday, April 21. First pitch is set for 2p.m.
Sticks 8, Parkston 9
A game that went back and forth the entire way fell into the hands of Parkston last Wednesday as the Trojans scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to claim a 9-8 win. There were five lead changes and one tie throughout the seven innings played. Parkston outhit the Sticks 9-4 and there were four Sticks errors.
Freeman senior Evan Scharberg had a bases-clearing double that highlighted a four-run sixth inning for F/C/M and finished with 4 RBI for the game. Freeman sophomore Luke Peters had 2 RBI and Freeman senior Rocky Ammann had another. Freeman freshman Oliver Waltner also collected a hit for the Sticks.
Scharberg, Canistota sophomore Eason Miller, Freeman freshman Tannen Auch and Freeman eighth-grader Tayden Kerrigan all saw action on the mound and struck out a combined nine batters. Kerrigan took the loss for the Sticks.
Sticks 6, Bon Homme 5
Bon Homme used a big second inning to build a 5-1 lead, but C/F/M crawled back into the game with a run in the third and two in the fourth. That led to a game-tying RBI single by Oliver Waltner that scored Freeman junior Sawyer Wipf in the sixth and what would be a game-winning double by Evan Scharberg that scored Freeman senior Rocky Ammann in the top of the seventh. Canistota sophomore Easton Miller came on to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh to pick up the save; of the 16 pitches he threw, 14 were for strikes.
The Sticks outhit Bon Homme eight to six and didn’t commit an error; the Cavaliers had one.
Scharberg had two hits and two RBI while Tayden Kerrigan and Waltner each knocked in a run. Ammann went 2-for-4 at the plate.
Scharberg was also the winning pitcher, with Freeman freshman Tannen Auch contributing on the mound, as well. Auch allowed just one hit over four innings pitched, striking out five.
