MITCHELL, S.D. – The Alexandria Angels shot at a third consecutive state championship came to an end Thursday night with a 5-3 loss vs. Flandreau.
Flandreau (15-10) never trailed in the game, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. The Angels would tie the game a 2-2 in the bottom of the third on an Aaron Groenweg grounder to short scoring Tyson Gau, followed by a Flandreau error in CF off the bat of Adam Durfee, scoring Jordan Gau.
The Cardinals would go ahead for good with a three run, fifth inning, capped off by a Jed Schmidt hit-by-pitch, followed by a wild pitch that would score Flandreau’s leadoff man Jacob Patterson from third.
Schmidt went five innings for Alexandria, giving up five runs with only one of them being earned, with six strikeouts. Ethan Davis threw the final four innings for the Angels, shutting out Flandreau, allowing just three hits and no runs.
Alexandria would score it’s final run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a wild pitch from Bret Severtson, scoring Cole Wenande from third to make it 5-3.
Severtson was the third pitcher of the night for Flandreau and their most effective giving up one run and four hits over 4 1/3 innings. Dallas Schneiderman would pitch the 9th to close it out for the Cardinals allowing just one walk.
Alexandria ends with season with a 17-3 record.
Flandreau now advances to Saturday’s first semifinal where they will take on Dimock-Emery (14-10), winners of six in a row. The Cardinals last reached the championship back in 2018 when they lost to Canova, 10-2.