The Smittys posted an 8-6 win over Watertown in American Legion baseball on Tuesday at the Region 1A Tournament at Fossum Field in Aberdeen. The Smittys, who are the top seed, advanced to the semifinal round in the double elimination region tournament.
"Our guys have done a good job of getting up for big games all year and they definitely came ready to play," said Smittys coach Justin Downes.
The Smittys held a 4-0 lead after five innings but Watertown pulled to within one run in the sixth.
In the top of the sixth inning, a walk followed by an infield single by Watertown's Nathan Boes broke up Aberdeen pitcher Carter Paulson's no-hit bid. Mitch Moes followed with a three-run home run to put Watertown on the scoreboard. The home run was just the second hit of the game allowed by Paulson.
Aberdeen responded with four runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Lucas Lorenz tripled with the bases loaded to return the Smittys to a four-run lead at 7-3. Lorenz scored on an RBI single by Paulson for an 8-3 score.
In the top of the eighth inning, four straight singles by Watertown and total of five in the inning pushed three more runs across the plate and the visiting team trailed by just two runs at 8-6.
Paulson finished the game by recording a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning that included two strikeouts.
"Carter pitched well. He let one pitch get away from him (on home run by Moes) but he grooved the ball during the game. Every time they came back at us, we did a good job of responding," said Downes. "That's huge for our bull pen to have the starting pitcher go the distance in game one. It's really big. It keeps everybody fresh for the remainder of the region."
Watertown's leaders were Moes, Harrison Jones and Kolton Michalski with two hits each. Moes drove in three runs.
For Aberdeen, Lorenz went 4-for-5 at the plate, scored four runs and drove in three runs. Zach Andera and Paulson chipped in with two hits each. Paulson struck out nine Watertown hitters and gave up just two walks.
"That's huge to get game one out of the way using only one pitcher. Lucas hammered the baseball. We played good defense, hit the ball well and had a good outing from Carter," said Downes.
In the earlier games, Watertown beat Sioux Falls Post 307 by a score of 8-6. Sioux Falls had the tying run on base when the game ended in the ninth inning. Huron rallied for an 11-2 win over Brookings. Huron trailed 2-1 before scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning. In the final evening game, Sioux Falls Post 307 beat Brookings 9-7. Brookings was eliminated from the tourney.
Today's schedule at Fossum Field features two teams without a loss, the Aberdeen Smittys playing Huron at 12:30 p.m., followed by games at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The losing teams in the final two games will be eliminated. All games are scheduled for nine innings.
"We're 4-0 against Huron this season but they have been really good games. We did not dominate," said Downes. "We had to come from behind twice in the region game to win."
Watertown 000 003 030-6 9 5
Aberdeen Smittys 102 014 00x-8 11 1
Brody Ries and Kolton Michalski; Carter Paulson and Michael Stotz. 3B-Aberdeen, Lucas Lorenz 2. HR-Watertown, Mitch Moes.