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YANKTON, S.D. — After three losses to open the American Legion baseball season, the Hartington Post 4 Legion Baseball Seniors broke through with back-to-back wins in a tournament in Yankton, S.D., over the weekend to stay alive in the competition until Sunday.
“I had never coached a team that made it until Sunday in this tournament,” Hartington skipper Don Whitmire said. “We competed very well. Our older guys are really coming around and our young guys are starting to get more comfortable in different roles.”
After dropping the opening game of the Kyle Mueller Classic at Bob Tershinski Stadium’s Riverside Field to Renner (S.D.), 20-0, Post 4 turned things around to move forward with a 7-4 win over Yankton JLand a 4-2 win over Yankton Post 12; both victories were on June 1.
The two-game streak ended June 2 when Hartington fell to the Norfolk Motor Company Seniors 5-2.
“Our pitching on the Seniors has honestly been better than I expected here in the early going,” Whitmire said. “Dylan (Taylor) threw a gem against Yankton and Koby Detlefsen pitched great against Norfolk; we just had too many errors.”
Detlefsen went the distance against Norfolk, scattering seven hits over seven innings, and walked one batter and didn’t allow an earned run. Taylor went six innings against Post 12, striking out 10 while allowing just three hits and a single run. Gavin Klug pitched the seventh and earned the save.
Norfolk scored in the first inning to go up 1-0 but Hartington answered in the bottom of the first frame when Breiton Whitmire tripled to lead things off and scored on a double by Taylor who slammed a shot into left field. Whitmire’s triple got past the right fielder.
Taylor was doubled off second on a line drive rifled by Dan Puppe and the threat was ended.
Norfolk would score in the third on a Post 4 error and plated another unearned run in the fifth to make it 3-0.
Hartington added a run in the sixth when Puppe tripled to right field chasing home Taylor, who had walked and Post 4 was back to within one, 3-2.
Norfolk Motor Company scored two in the top of the seventh and after Hunter Bensen earned a walk to lead off the bottom of the inning, a fly ball and back-to-back ground outs ended the game.
“We hit a lot of hard shots but they were right at them,” Whitmire said. “Bad luck and too many errors just cost us any chance in the end.”
Against Yankton, starting pitcher Dylan Taylor got all of the runs he needed from his offense in the first inning of Post 4’s win over Yankton Post 12.
Whitmire opened the game with a single then stole second after a strikeout. Detlefsen walked to put runners on first and second with one away before Whitmire steals third and scores on an error by the Yankton catcher.
Detlefsen stole second then Bensen hammered a line drive into right field for a triple to send Detlefsen home.
Wes Heine and Sam Wiebelhaus each drew walks to load the bases.
Grady Haberer walked to chase Bensen home before Cole Rosener smacked a single into left field for the 4-0 lead.
“We played a clean game against Yankton,” Whitmire said. “And like I said, Taylor looked really sharp the entire game.”
Post 12 would score a run in the third and one in the seventh, despite Gavin Klug taking the reins in the seventh and striking out three batters.
Hartington Seniors also defeated South Sioux City on June 3 in Ralph Bishop League action and will travel for another tournament to South Dakota June 7-8 after a home date with Ponca on June 5.
NOR 101 010 2 - 5 7 0 HAR 100 001 0 - 2 3 9 WP: Sawyer Wolff LP: Koby Detlefsen. 2B: Dylan Taylor (H). 3B: Breiton Whitmire, Dan Puppe (H). Player ab r h rbi bb Breiton Whitmire 2 1 1 0 0 Dylan Taylor 2 1 1 1 1 Dan Puppe 3 0 1 1 0 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 0 0 0 Hunter Bensen 2 0 0 0 1 Wes Heine 3 0 0 0 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 0 0 0 0 Cole Rosener 3 0 0 0 0 Micah Cattau 2 0 0 0 0 HAR 400 000 0 - 4 6 0 YAN 001 000 1 - 2 5 2 WP: Dylan Taylor LP: Sager S: Gavin Klug. 2B: Wes Heine (H). 3B: Hunter Bensen (H); Kampschoff (Y). Player ab r h rbi bb Breiton Whitmire 4 1 1 0 0 Dylan Taylor 4 0 1 0 0 Koby Detlefsen 3 1 1 0 1 Hunter Bensen 4 1 1 1 0 Wes Heine 3 1 1 0 1 Sam Wiebelhaus 1 0 0 0 1 Tate Fischer 1 0 0 0 0 Grady Haberer 1 0 0 1 1 Cole Rosener 3 0 1 1 0 Maverick Heine 3 0 0 0 0 Hartington Seniors defeat Yankton JL 7-4. HAR 130 200 1 - 7 8 3 YAN 010 300 0 4 9 3 WP: Breiton Whitmire LP: Weier. 2B: Breiton Whitmire (H); Boomsmith (Y). 3B: Hunter Bensen (H). Player ab r h rbi bb Breiton Whitmire 3 2 2 2 0 Dylan Taylor 3 0 0 0 0 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 1 0 1 Hunter Bensen 3 0 1 1 0 Wes Heine 2 0 0 0 2 Grady Haberer 2 0 0 0 0 Maverick Heine 1 0 0 0 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 1 1 0 0 Hudson Whitmire 0 2 0 0 1 Cole Rosener 3 1 1 0 0
