Mitchell baseball team ends regular season with two wins

The Mitchell high school baseball team ended its regular season with a doubleheader sweep against Brandon Tuesday at Cadwell Park in Mitchell.

"Brandon's a really good team," Mitchell coach Luke Norden said. "Coming out with two wins gives us great confidence going into the regional tournament."

Mitchell ended its regular season with a 16-7 record and will take the field for the regional tournament Saturday in Mitchell.

The Kernels' bats came alive in game two Tuesday with an 8-1 win after a come-from-behind 3-2 victory to start the day.

Brandon pitcher Jared Mulder was cruising in game one and looked to have an easy victory in hand.

Brandon scored two runs in the fourth inning and with two outs in the sixth Mitchell had sent the minimum number of hitters to the plate.

Kirby Fuerst started the late-inning rally with a single to left to bring up the top of the order.

After a Lakin Neugebauer walk, Brent Havlik put the Kernels on the board with an RBI single.

Havlik reached second base on a throw from the outfield and Mitchell had the tying and go-ahead runners on base with Zach Bennett at the plate.

Bennett came through with a two-RBI single and Mitchell had its first lead, which would hold in the 3-2 victory.

"It was a good comeback for us," Norden said.

Norden credited the Kernels' defense for the victory.

He said Mitchell has held its opponents to three runs or fewer in more than half of its games and doing that once again was vital in Tuesday's wins.

Josh Schmidt picked up the win on the mound in game one for Mitchell. He threw all seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. Schmidt struck out five.

Brandon led early in game two, plating an unearned run off of Neugebauer in the first.

The Kernels bounced back with two in the bottom half of the inning and coasted for the victory. Mitchell added six runs in the fifth to cushion its lead.

Neugebauer pitched four innings for the win in game two and Michael Sadler threw the final three innings.

Neugebauer allowed one unearned run on eight hits and struck out four. Sadler gave up one hit and had two strikeouts in his three innings.

"Brandon swings the bat really well," Norden said. "Every guy that pitched for us threw really well."

Jared Schmidt was the leading hitter in the nightcap, going 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and a stolen base.

Norden said he believes his team is prepared for Saturday's region tournament.

"The most important thing was getting to play two games and getting some more at bats against live pitching," he said.