Parkston Mudcats leading field through two rounds with .403 average at the plate

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With pitching reigning supreme at the Class B state amateur baseball tournament, teams with high-powered offenses stormed their way into the quarterfinals.

Through Wednesday night’s action, the Parkston Mudcats led the tournament in team batting average with a solid .403 mark. Canova/Howard’s .373 average was second best and Crofton, Neb., was sitting at .366 to round out the top three.

Tabor, the lone eliminated team in the top five, finished the tournament with a batting average of .308.

Despite having more hits, the Parkston Mudcats rank second in runs scored through two rounds with 17. Crofton put up 20 runs in its first two games.

Crofton’s Rand Tygeson had the most hits entering the quarterfinals with seven. Scot Donner, of Crofton, and the Parkston Mudcats’ Trevor Fruedenthal finished with six hits each after two games.

Fruedenthal leads the way in doubles during the tournament with four while Canova-Howard’s Devin Alfson is the only player with two triples.

Donner and Lennox’s Landon Danelson remain the only players with multiple home runs, each having hit two. Donner was last year’s Class B Most Valuable Player as he led his team to the state championship.

Along with being a force at the plate, Donner is a top pitcher. Last year, Donner finished with the best ERA at the state tournament. In 20 innings his ERA was 0.90. Tabor’s Gary Kortan had an ERA of 1.74 in 20 2/3 innings and the Parkston Mudcats ace, Brady Nolz, had a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings.

Donner’s ERA is 2.00 after his complete-game effort in his team’s first round while Nolz holds a 0.60 ERA through 15 innings thus far. Kortan finished this year’s tournament with a 1.29 ERA, pitching seven innings.

Canova-Howard adding to record win total

Entering its 6 p.m. matchup against Alexandria today, the Canova-Howard Gang has a record 83 state tournament victories.

The Gang holds a comfortable lead in that category, with the second-highest total belonging to the Dell Rapids Merchants & PBR at 66. The team from Dell Rapids missed out on the state tournament this year, the first absence from the event in 27 years.

Since 2000, the two squads have met twice in the state championship game with each team winning once. In 2002, Dell Rapids PRB triumphed with a 14-13 win in the title game and in 2009 the Gang got revenge with an 11-7 win to claim the Class B crown.

Tags: sports, updates, amateur, baseball, parkston