BELLE FOURCHE S.D. – Mobridge Post 4’s 17U Legion squad split its opening day at the South Dakota State VFW Varsity Baseball Championships on Friday in Belle Fourche, defeating W.I.N. 19U 4-2 before falling 7-2 to WC VFW Varsity.
In the opener, Mobridge rallied with a four-run fourth inning to erase an early deficit and earn the 4-2 victory.
After W.I.N. scored first in the top of the fourth, Kellen Pfitzer tied the game with an RBI single. Wesley Arnott followed with a two-run single to give Post 4 the lead, and Kyson Good Shield added an RBI by drawing a bases-loaded walk.
Pfitzer and Easton Eisemann each collected two hits, while Arnott, Pfitzer and Good Shield drove in a run each. Mobridge also turned a key double play on defense.
Trueth Crow Ghost earned the win, allowing one run on two hits over 3 2/3 innings while striking out five without a walk. Andrew Ulmer pitched in relief to help secure the victory.
Logan Fischbach led W.I.N. with a hit and an RBI, while Beckett Halvorson and Alec Mikkelson also recorded hits.
In Friday’s second game, Mobridge grabbed an early lead but couldn’t hold off WC VFW Varsity in a 7-2 loss.
Mack Saxon gave Post 4 a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first inning and finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate. WC responded with three runs in the third as Eli Koehn tied the game with a sacrifice fly before Cooper Ball’s two-run double gave WC the lead for good.
Pfitzer drove in Mobridge’s other run and finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Despite the split, Mobridge secured the No. 1 seed on its side of the bracket thanks to a favorable tiebreaker, earning a first-round bye as the tournament shifts to double-elimination play Saturday.
Post 4 will play at 3 p.m. MDT at the Belle Fourche Baseball Complex against the winner of the morning matchup between No. 2 Belle Fourche and No. 3 W.I.N., with a trip to the championship game at stake.
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