PARKSTON-Derek Graesser saw a pitch he liked and he took advantage of it to put his Winner/Colome Pheasants in front early Sunday night.
His work on the mound made sure they would stay in front.
The Winner/Colome right-hander struck out 10 batters in the Pheasants' 4-3 win over the Parkston Mudcats during the District 5B amateur tournament on Sunday. Graesser pitched the complete game and allowed six hits in the victory.
"It felt good," Graesser said about the win. "Parkston is a really good team. They are always going to compete and you always have to expect them to come back."
The Mudcats did compete, but could never take the lead against the Pheasants. Parkston had runners at first and third in the top of the eighth with two outs before the Mudcats' Dan Bonte flew out to left field to end the threat.
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"Just keep throwing, just keep fighting and trusting my outfielders," Graesser added about the game. "It was a tough game for me. I was erratic. I was a little bit out of control, but I fought through."
Graesser then closed out the game in the ninth inning. He also helped out his cause early in the game at the plate. He socked a solo home run to left field to put Winner/Colome ahead 3-1 in the third inning.
Austin Calhoon also hit a solo home run in the win. He also had a single. Dillon Lambley hit a double, a single and drove in a run for the Pheasants.
Jacob Weber took the loss for Parkston. He lasted five innings, struck out two batters and gave up four earned runs.
James Boehmer drove in two runs, while Zach Scott had one RBI for Parkston. Ty Kinneberg also drove in a run.
Parkston will play the winner of the Parkston Bullheads and the Mount Vernon Mustangs game. The Bullheads and Mustangs will play at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in Parkston.
Winner/Colome will play the Alexandria Angels on Friday at 8 p.m. in Parkston, with the tournament's top two seeds headed for the championship game.
"Our bats have to be on point," Graesser said about Friday's game. "Our fielding has to be on point. We have had a few more errors than we had throughout the year, but hopefully everything comes together."
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Parkston 100 100 100-3 6 0
Winner/Colome 021 100 00x-4 7 3
