MITCHELL, S.D. – In a battle of Cornbelt League rivals, the Dell Rapids Mudcats dominated from the first inning on in with a 16-1, six inning championship victory over Flandreau on Sunday afternoon to capture the 2021 Class B Amateur Baseball State Championship.
Dell Rapids took advantage of three Cardinals errors in the first inning to score the first run of the game.
Flandreau’s only run came in the top of the second inning on a Bret Severtson home run to left.
The Mudcats would score multiple runs in each of the next four innings, ending the game early in the sixth due to the 15-run rule.
Dalton Lehnen put an exclamation point on the Dell Rapids blowout with a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 11-1. Lehnan was 3-for-4 on the day with five RBI’s.
The six-run fourth inning would knock Flandreau starter Dallas Schneiderman from the game after 3 2/3 innings. Schneiderman gave up 11 runs, seven earned, on nine hits.
On the mound for the Mudcats, Kris Regas would cruise through six innings of one run baseball, allowing six hits with eight strikeouts.
Dell Rapids would add one more home run in the fifth inning, a three-run shot from Mark Abrahamson to make it 14-1. Abrahamson finished with four RBI’s.
Regas and Lehnen were named co-MVP’s of the tournament while Drew Demers, a pick-up player from the Humboldt/Hartford Gamecocks and from Dakota Wesleyan, won the batting title for Flandreau, hitting .643 (9-for-14) in the tournament.
Dell Rapids won three of the four matchups vs. the Cardinals during the season with the only loss coming in the District 4B title game, 10-6