SIOUX FALLS — Coming off a week in which three of four games were canceled due to weather, the Mitchell High School baseball team ran its early season win streak to five games with an 8-2 victory over Sioux Falls Washington on Tuesday.
The Kernels’ offense had been a highlight through the first six games of the season, putting up an average of 15 runs per game. While Tuesday came up short of that lofty mark after a week without game action, the Mitchell bats were plenty warm, particularly early, in taking down the Warriors.
Mitchell scored four runs in the top of the second inning and tacked on two more in the third on the way to a 6-1 lead. Washington brought back a run in the bottom of the fifth, but two more Kernel runs in the seventh dampened any prospects of a late rally for the home team.
Across seven innings, Mitchell (6-1) recorded 13 hits, all singles. Brock Sparks and Carson Fahey, hitting eighth and ninth, respectively, were the most productive Kernels at the plate, each finishing with three hits in seven combined at-bats. Sparks also drove in a pair of runs and scored one of his own. Dylan Soulek matched Sparks’ two RBIs, as he and Jace Larson each found their way on base with a pair of hits.
Soulek got the start on the mound, as well, striking out eight batters in five innings of work while surrendering six hits to pick up the win. Peyton Mandel relieved Soulek in the sixth inning, recording two strikeouts in as many innings.
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Jack Nesje started opposite Soulek for the Warriors, going 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts but allowing 10 hits and five earned runs. Offensively, Wesley Stroh and Cael Swanson each had two hits, with Swanson’s triple standing as the only extra-base hit of the game by either side.
Next up on the Kernels’ schedule is another trip east, as Mitchell and Brandon Valley will play a doubleheader with the first game at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 22 in Brandon.
