Post 22 8, Post 320 1

Post 22's Carter Wevik (10) is greeted by Jake Bohne aftering scoring in the first inning. Post 22 defeated Post 320 8-1 in Region 3A action. (Photo Seth A. McConnell/IDS)

19 times Rapid City Post 22 and Rapid City Post 320 have met in the post-season, and 18 times the Hardhats have left the field winners.

In front of a swollen Fitzgerald Stadium crowd Wednesday night, Post 22’s dominance over their neighbors continued.

While the Hardhats bats were on fire with double-digit hits, the man of the hour was Jake Bohne.

The southpaw took the ball for the start and went the entire way. In between he did everything a ball club could ask of a starter, striking out eight batters, and holding the Stars to just three hits in nine innings.

“The word that people would use to describe Jake tonight was – amazing,” Post 22 head coach Dave Ploof said. “It was fun to see. I would say the main thing with him tonight was right here – heart. He’s got heart, he’s a fierce competitor and he comes at you. When he gets behind it doesn’t bother him, he just keeps on coming.”

Jake Bohne (left) and catcher Sam Parkinson (right) have a conference in the third inning Wednesday night. Bohne fired a complete game three-hit gem against Post 320. (Photo Seth A. McConnell/IDS)

Post 22 returned the favor to their workhorse with 15 hits. A number of Hardhats could have been the offensive stars as five players had at least two base hits.

Right fielder Jake Sullivan went 3-for-5 with two RBI, two runs, two doubles and a triple. Ryne Lees and Donte Bledsoe equaled Sullivan with three hits apiece and Lees knocked in a pair of runs. Carter Wevik and shortstop Newt Johnson both added two RBI on two hits and Johnson scored twice to headline the offense of Post 22.

“The whole ballclub came to play,” Ploof said. “They played hard from the beginning to the end and in every aspect of the game we played well. Now we just have to go home, get our rest and duplicate it.”

The game was tied at 1-1 in the third inning when Post 22 broke it open with a strike that Post 320 could not recover from.

Donte Bledsoe started a four-run inning with a bouncing double down the left field line off of Post 320 starter Adam Carroll. Two batters later, Newt Johnson drove a booming fly into center that just missed clearing the wall for a two-run triple.

Jake Sullivan followed with an RBI double into the right-center gap that a diving Post 320 centerfielder Matt Johnson just missed. Carter Wevik’s fielder’s choice RBI put Post 22 up 5-1.

“That’s all you can ask for man,” Bohne said of the run support. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The run support was plenty with the way Bohne was pitching. A little hyped up in the early stages, he settled down after a second inning RBI double from Star left fielder Kyle Gorsuch. Bohne had perfect innings from the third through the seventh aside from one infield single and a walk.

The last gasp for Post 320 came in the eighth inning, but Bohne promptly shut the door.

After walking the first batter and hitting the next, Bohne retired the next two and struck out Gorsuch looking with a big bending curveball that effectively put the game on ice.

“I would say my off speed wasn’t working real great tonight, but I was able to spot it a couple times and get a good changeup or curveball,” Bohne said.

Heading into the latter part of the game one would expect Bohne would start to tire given the extra two innings. But he might have saved his best stuff for the ninth when he retired the last two batters on strikes for his only two-strike out inning.

“I definitely got a little tired but you still got the adrenaline in you in the last couple innings to pull through and finish,” he said.

Post 22 stays in the winner’s bracket with a matchup with Pierre Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. while Post 320 will look to stay alive against Sturgis in a 5 p.m. elimination game.