Opposing seventh-inning rallies lead to Mitchell baseball splitting doubleheader with Huron

HURON — Trailing by one run entering the seventh inning, Mitchell’s Dylan Soulek and Mason Herman delivered RBI hits to push the Kernels past Huron in a 10-9 final on Thursday in Game 1 of a doubleheader.

Soulek slapped a two-RBI double to center field, giving Mitchell a 9-8 edge in the seventh before Herman singled to plate Soulek for a 10-8 lead. Though the Tigers clawed back a run in the final half-inning, Mitchell held on for the win.

The rally completed an even larger comeback, as Huron had charged out to a 7-2 advantage after the first inning before Mitchell steadily chipped away.

Lincoln Bates went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a triple, scoring three runs and driving in one, while Soulek reached base four times with a double, a triple and two walks and drove in three runs. Gavin Soukup recorded three hits and score twice, and Hudson Borgan had two hits and one run.

Parker Mandel went three innings and struck out four batters in his start, but it was Carter Miller, who pitched three innings in relief that earned the win on the mound. Soulek was credited with a save, striking out two of three batters faced in the final inning.

Huron’s Layne Wenzel had three base hits and scored two runs, as Ethan Busch and Kolby Hofer each added two hits. Busch also scored twice.

Bubba Peterson pitched 4 2/3 innings with three strikeouts, and Wenzel was given the pitching loss in 2 1/3 innings of relief.

Down to the final strike in Game 2, Hofer delivered a walk-off three-RBI single as Huron swiped a win.

Mitchell scored the first four runs of the contest — one in the first and three more in the fifth — before the Tigers started to chip away.

A Soulek two-RBI double that scored Bates and Karter Sibson followed by a Hudson Haley sacrifice fly to score Soulek gave Mitchell a four-run lead midway through the fifth inning. Huron then scored one run in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings ahead of Hofer’s game-winning swing.

Soulek had three total RBIs, as Bates scored two runs. Tyler Sanderson struck out eight batters across 4 2/3 innings of work. Colin Stange and Bates combined to toss the remaining two innings.

Hofer’s hit was Huron’s fourth of the second game, as Busch accounted for two of the other three hits and Peterson and Mason Davis drove in the other two runs. Davis struck out six in five innings on the mound and Busch added three strikeouts in two innings.

Mitchell (3-1) is in action next at Yankton for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Sunday.