KORN News Radio FM 101.3/AM 1490 will have complete coverage of all six area teams in this year’s 2021 Class B Amateur Baseball Tournament at Cadwell Park; Alexandria, Dimock-Emery, Kimball/White Lake, Plankinton, Mt. Vernon and Platte
Wednesday, August 4
Milbank vs. Platte, 5:30 pm
Dimock-Emery vs. Castlewood, 7:30 pm
Thursday, August 5
Redfield Dairy Queen vs. Menno, 11 am
Plankinton Bankers vs. Clark, 1 pm
Akron, Iowa vs. Mt. Vernon, 5:30 pm
Flandreau vs. Tabor, 7:30 pm
Friday, August 6
Canova vs. Alexandria, 11 am
Volga vs. Crofton, Neb, 1 pm
Wynot, Neb., vs. Four Corners, 5:30 pm
Dell Rapids Mudcats vs. Lake Norden, 7:30 pm
Saturday, August 7
Lesterville vs. Dell Rapids PBR, 11 am
Larchwood, Iowa vs. Lennox Only One, 1 pm
Elk Point vs. Kimball/White Lake, 5:30 pm
Redfield Pheasants vs. Colman, 7:30 om
Sunday, August 8
Salem vs. Colome, 11 am
South Central vs. Winner/Colome, 1 pm
Alexandria Angels
The #1 ranked team in the final Class B Amateur Poll, the Angels have won five state championships since 2013 and have played in seven of the last eight state title games after defeating Canova last year 11-3.
Alexandria advanced to state with a dominate 19-4 win over Parkston last Thursday.
The only three losses that the Angels (15-3) have this season are to Dimock-Emery (2-0) in the District Tournament, Corsica-Stickney (3-2) and Mt. Vernon (7-6).
Alexandria has three top of the line starters in Tyson Gau, Ethan Davis and Jed Schmidt. Gau leads the team this season with 46 innings pitched, 60 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA.
Davis, the recent Dakota Wesleyan graduate, is in his third year with the Angels and it has been his best. The Billings, Montana, native has a team best 0.87 ERA with 52 K’s over 41 innings.
Former Mitchell Kernel Jed Schmidt had posted a 1.28 ERA with 42 strikeouts over 28 innings. The soon to be senior at Augustana started the title game last year vs. Canova, going all nine innings and striking out 10 batters in his first season with Alexandria. Schmidt also has a .326 AVG(14-for-43) with a team-high eight steals
Offensively, Peyton Smith leads the way with a .419 AVG and .554 OBP with a team best 26 hits, 23 runs and 17 walks. Meanwhile, Michael Schoettmer has added some power with four home runs, while hitting .373/.458/745
Alexandria will play Canova at 11 am on Friday in the first round of the tournament
Dimock/Emery
The winners of District 5B, the Raptors came from behind to defeat Winner/Colome on Saturday 10-7, after trailing 7-2 going into the 7th inning.
Dimock/Emery (11-10) upset Alexandria on July 25 with a 2-0 victory to advance to the District Title Game.
Phil Johnson leads the offense with a .340 AVG and .500 OBP, while also throwing a team-high 41 2/3 innings with a 4.10 ERA.
Jason Schmidt has a team-best 2.10 ERA over 30 innings along with 43 strikeouts, while also hitting .300/.533/.667. The 2008 Mitchell High School graduate was one of 16 players selected to the inaugural South Dakota High School Baseball Association Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Former Mitchell Kernel Peyton Nash has added instant offense in his first year with the Raptors, hitting .333 with a .447 OBP. Nash is joined by former high school teammates Drew Kitchens and Sam Michels.
The Raptors missed the state tournament last year, ending a 13 year run of consecutive appearances at state. In 2019, D/E lost in the opening round to the Dell Rapids Mudcats, 10-4.
Dimock-Emery will play on the opening night of the tournament on Wednesday vs. Castlewood at 7:30 pm
Kimball/White Lake
The Nationals were the #2 seed in the District 3B Tournament defeating Miller/Wessington in the opening round before losing back-to-back games to South Central, 10-8, and Four Corners, 9-2. That set up an elimination game/state qualifier vs. Miller/Wessington.
For the second time in the District Tournament, Kimball/White Lake defeated Miller/Wessington, 7-2, to advance to state for the third straight year this past Friday. Zak Wallner went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored. Wallner also pitched five innings, allowing only two hits, no runs and 12 strikeouts.
Kimball/White Lake has lost to Larchwood (Iowa) and Tabor in the first round of the State Tournament the past two seasons. The Nationals last State Tournament win was a 15-3 win over Milbank in the first round of the 2016 tournament.
The Nationals will play Elk Point on Saturday at 5:30 pm.
Mt. Vernon Mustangs
The Mustangs (13-7) clinched their fifth appearance at state in the last six years with a come from behind victory vs. Platte on July 29. Mt. Vernon trailed the Killer Tomatoes 5-4 heading into the 8th inning. Bradley Dean tied the game with a RBI single to score Spencer Neugebauer. Brigg Havlik would then double in Dean in what would end up being the game winning run.
Havlik threw five innings of scoreless relief, allowing only two hits and picking up the win. He also reached base all five times going 4-for-4 with a walk.
Neugebauer has sparked the offense all season long for Mt. Vernon, hitting a team best .400 (30-for-75) with a .477 OBP and 17 steals.
On the mound, Deric Denning leads the way with 43 1/3 innings pitched, a 3.11 ERA and 60 strikeouts.
The Mustangs are one of just three teams to defeat Alexandria on the season with a 7-6 victory back on June 3.
Mt. Vernon will play Akron (Iowa) on Thursday at 5:30 pm in the opening round of the state tournament.
Plankinton Bankers
Plankinton won its fifth consecutive District 3B title win a 5-2 win vs. South Central on July 29.
The Bankers (18-1) have only lost one game during the 2021 campaign and that was to 1-0 decision to Kimball/White Lake on July 18.
Averaging 10.4 runs per game, Plankinton has four hitters hitting over .350 on the season with on-base percentages north of .460, including Cole Knippling, Sheldon Gant, Josh Engquist and Chris Hill
Th 37-year-old Knippling, in his second year with the Bankers, has hit .437/524/.732 with 5 HR’s, 23 RBI’s while leading the team in most offensive categories.
Gant (.387 AVG) and Engquist (.357 AVG) also have 23 RBI’s on the season, while combining to throw 80 percent of the innings (125-of-156) this season for Plankinton. Gant has a 1.62 ERA with 87 strikeouts over 61 innings, while Engquist has a 2.10 ERA with 96 strikeouts over 64 innings.
The Bankers lost in the first round last year, 14-1 to the Dell Rapids Mudcats on the opening night of the 2020 State Tournament after making the quarterfinals in 2019.
Plankinton will open up its ninth straight tournament appearance vs. Clark on Thursday at 1 pm.
Platte Killer Tomatoes
Platte is making back-to-back state tournament appearances after defeating Parkston 12-2 this past Saturday in an elimination game.
The Killer Tomatoes were the #2 seed heading into the District 5B Tournament opening with an 8-5 win over Parkston. Back-to-back losses to Winner/Colome (7-5) and Mt. Vernon (6-5) led to an elimination game on Saturday vs. Parkston.
Platte won its first round tournament game last year vs. Volga, 6-4 before losing to Renner, 9-5.
The Killer Tomatoes will play in the opening game of the tournament at 5:30 pm on Wednesday vs. Milbank.
