Aberdeen takes out Alexandria

The Alexandria Legion baseball team has had quite a season.

After rolling to the Region 4B championship, coach Jerry Smith and company won the Class B state Legion championship in Lennox. That earned Alexandria a spot in this week’s state Legion baseball tournament against the best the state has to offer at the Class A level.

Like many of the Class B champs that came before them, that’s where the fairytale story ended for the Angels.

Aberdeen trounced Alexandria 15-0 in an elimination game of the state Legion baseball tournament Friday at Drake Field.

“It’s been great,” Smith said of his teams run to the state tournament. “We realized before we came in here that this could happen. It’s just fun getting here. You don’t like to go out and get beat as bad as we did, but our kids were still out there having fun and that’s what matters.”

Aberdeen scored in every inning of Friday’s game, including a four-run fourth inning that knocked Alexandria starting pitcher Tyson Gau from the game. Gau, who led his team to the state tournament with his pitching and hitting, allowed nine runs — seven earned — on 12 hits in 3.2 innings.

Christian Cox went 5-for-5 with two RBIs and scored four times from his leadoff spot for the Smittys. Mitchell Babcock, Evan Nolte, Chad Ellingson and Devin Dunwoody each added two hits for Aberdeen, which scored three times each in the first, fifth and sixth innings. Babcock and Nolte each drove in three runs and Jon Heintzman scored three times.

“In the ‘B’ Division, you’re always going to have some kids in the lineup that aren’t as good as the guys at the top of the lineup,” Smith said of the difference between facing Class A and Class B opponents. “But coming into a tournament like this, one through nine, every team is solid. Every team has four or five guys that can pitch and it’s just a faster game.”

“It’s just like basketball or football; the kids are bigger, faster and stronger.”

Michael Wegehaupt picked up the win for Aberdeen, which advanced to face Pierre in another elimination game later in the day. Wegehaupt allowed two hits and struck out seven in five innings of work. Corey Casanova pitched the final two innings and allowed and only gave up one hit to the Alexandria offense.

“A lot of these kids play baseball all year long, and it’s fortunate for me that our kids play basketball and football and are good at everything,” Smith said. “That’s what’s great for me, is that I get to see these kids grow up in a small town with the opportunity to play a lot of sports.

“A lot of these other kids are just concentrated on baseball, and they’re good. But that’s why they’re good, because they do it all year round.”

Tracy Hofer, Derrick Miller and Jarod Weber each had a hit for Alexandria. Chris Welch pitched the final 2.1 innings of the season in relief of Gau. He allowed six runs — three earned — on five hits.

“I told the kids before this game started that we don’t ever want it to end,” Smith said. “But it has to end some time. With this group of kids, it’s always fun.”

Tags: legion baseball, state tournament, our towns, sports, baseball, alexandria, aberdeen