Game 1: Post 320 6, Williston 4

Game 2: Canon City 4, Post 320 3

Post 320's Matt Johnson connects but hits a ground ball out against Williston on Saturday in their opening game of the Black Hills Classic. After day 1 the Stars are 1-1 in the tourney. (Photo Jake Nordbye/IDS)

 

In a blowout, the game is not decided when a runner is thrown out, or a fielder drops a routine fly ball. But when games are tension-filled in one or two run nail biters, a base running error or a base hit that just squeaks through the infield becomes magnified. The line separating balls and strikes, fair or foul, and singles or groundouts is so paper thin that any one of them can turn a close game.

Rapid City Post 320 saw that truth from both the winning and losing perspective in their Saturday split in the Black Hills Classic Tournament.

In their afternoon game with Williston, N.D. Adam Carroll picked up a complete game victory over the Keybirds 6-4.

The Stars got on the board in the second inning when shortstop Bryce Mitzel’s bouncing grounder just slipped the Williston second baseman’s glove, scoring Tanner Feterl. Corey Weidmann’s sacrifice fly gave Post 320 a 2-1 lead.

Williston’s C.J. Vinger grabbed the lead back with a two-run homer in the top of the third, but the damage could have been greater. With runners on second and third Jeff Beckman raced home from third on a Carroll wild pitch but was thrown out at home to end the inning, and Williston held a 3-2 lead.

Post 320 charged back in the fourth inning with more timely plays thanks to some miscues by Williston in the field due to the conditions at McKeague Field. Jake Fredericksen lofted a ball into left, but the left fielder couldn’t see the ball in the sun and let it get behind him, putting runners on second and third. Weidmann hit a slow roller back to Williston pitcher Josh Solem, who tried to get Kyle Gorsuch at third. Gorsuch smartly waited to see what the pitcher did and dove back to the base in time to load the bases.

Matt Johnson walked in a run and Danny Bareis knocked a sacrifice fly to go up 4-3. With two outs, Feterl seemed to hit the inning ending pop out, but the swirling winds took the ball all over the place and made the Williston first baseman drop it, plating two more runs.

Williston looked to be on their way to retaking the lead in the fifth with Beckman’s RBI single preceding the Keybirds loading the bases with two outs. But Carroll shut down the threat on Matt Ogurchak’s drive to right when Bareis made a nice running catch at the foul line.

“I figured I was going to come out of there with three or four runs,” Carroll said. “That was a big weight off my chest.”

The sequence reignited Carroll to a 1-2-3 sixth, and with two runners on and two outs in the seventh, Johnson made a spectacular backhanded sliding catch to secure the win.

“Honestly, we just played out of our minds today,” Carroll said. “That’s a good ballclub over there. We were diving, knocking down balls, and usually we don’t do that at all.”

The game-ending play marked a crisp defensive effort from the Stars, as they got a ton of work with Carroll striking out just three batters.

“This was taxing today,” Post 320 head coach Jim Brandt said. “It was very bright and we had some gusty winds. We had good shortstop play, good second base play, the right fielder did a heck of a job. We didn’t make an error either.”

The second game with Canon City, Colo. was a pitcher’s duel from the start. Kyle Gorsuch and Canon City’s Brandon Rix went toe-to-toe for five innings before either blinked. Gorsuch, who is a power pitcher, had a very effective curveball going as he struck out six (he would finish with eight strikeouts) and only gave up a first inning single through five.

“Kyle did very well. The other fellow did a very nice job as well. His ball had a lot of movement,” Brandt said. “There were six or seven of our guys that got handcuffed a few times.”

The first run of the game came in the sixth. Stars third baseman Hunter LaCroix had just made an amazing play when he dove for Logan Nethercot’s smash, knocked the ball down and got the runner by half a step with a runner on second.

It appeared Gorsuch would get out of the inning, but Austin Douglas hit a two-out single to score a run for a 1-0 lead.

Post 320 wasted a gold opportunity in the bottom of the seventh to steal the game. Mitzel’s bunt with Ben Dingus on first base caused the pitcher to overthrow the ball to second. But Dingus took off for third and was thrown out on a bang-bang play, causing assistant coach Paul Poole to argue to the point of getting ejected.

“He adds life to the program,” Brandt said. “He did it professionally, he didn’t touch him. I think it was exciting – not that he got thrown out – but it adds a little life.”

Three wild pitches from Rix got Mitzel around to score later in the inning, but it felt like 320 should have put just that extra run that would have sent them to their second victory of the tournament.

With new life Canon City made the most of it. LaCroix’s throw on a grounder hit by R.J. Stainbrook was a half step late, and after a hit batsman a passed ball moved the runners to second and third. That set up the pitcher Rix who slapped a two-run single to break the tie.

Canon City tacked on an insurance run, and they needed it badly. Because with two outs and Bareis on first, Feterl smashed a home run to left field that cut the lead to one. But Gorsuch struck out looking on a full-count pitch that looked to be just outside that ended the comeback.

“We had a great day of baseball,” Brandt said. “It was something I was hoping that maybe we could get to. I didn’t know when we were going to get there. We played two very fine teams and we played very, very well, and I hope this is a beginning to kind of indicate what they might be able to do.”

Post 320  plays Aberdeen tonight at 7 p.m.