Baseball Diamond Report for May 14: Royals close regular season strong with Class B playoffs near
· Yahoo Sports
May 14—WINNER, S.D. — With the South Dakota Class B baseball regular season coming to a close this week, the Winner/Colome Royals have established themselves as a team to watch heading into postseason play.
The Royals closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak and enter the Class B Super Regionals, scheduled for May 17-20, with a 9-3 overall record. Winner/Colome's offense has been the driving force behind its success all season, averaging 11.2 runs per game.
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A closer look at the Royals' season shows a clear trend offensively. In all three of their losses this year, Winner/Colome failed to score double-digit runs. The Royals have only won one game this season without reaching at least 10 runs — a 7-2 victory over Gregory in their second game of the year. Every other victory has come when the Royals' bats exploded for double figures.
Winner/Colome capped off the regular season with an impressive 12-5 victory over Chamberlain/Kimball/Lyman on Monday, finishing with 13 hits and nine RBIs as a team. Camdyn Anderson led the offensive charge, going 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Masen Beehler, Cooper Craven and Carter McKenzie each added two hits in the win.
On the mound, Carter Foster delivered a strong performance to close out the regular season, throwing three innings of one-hit ball while allowing no runs. Foster also recorded two strikeouts and issued one walk.
The Royals' lineup has been anchored all season by Anderson, who has put together one of the top offensive campaigns in Class B baseball. Anderson is batting a staggering .617 through 47 at-bats and owns a .608 on-base percentage along with a 1.565 OPS. He has also totaled a team-leading six triples, 32 RBIs and 18 runs scored.
McKenzie has also been a major contributor offensively, hitting .515 with a remarkable .692 OBP. He has driven in nine runs while leading the team with 24 runs scored this season.
The Royals' depth at the plate has been a key factor in their success. Craven is batting .405 on the year, while Beehler is hitting .350 and Quincy Phillips is batting .333, giving Winner/Colome multiple reliable bats throughout the lineup heading into postseason play when you need every bat you can get.
McKenzie has also emerged as the team's ace on the pitching staff. In five starts, he holds a perfect 4-0 record with a 0.955 earned-run average across 22 innings pitched and 19 strikeouts. Foster has logged 15 1/3 innings on the mound with a 3-2 record, 15 strikeouts and a 5.50 ERA.
Defensively, Phillips has been a steady presence for the Royals, leading the team with 63 putouts while posting a .986 fielding percentage with just one error through 12 games.
Now with the regular season complete, Winner/Colome will look to carry its balanced offense, reliable pitching and strong momentum into the postseason. The Royals will enter the West Super Regional as the No. 3 seed behind top-seeded Platte-Geddes/Dakota Christian/White Lake (10-2) and No. 2 seed Belle Fourche, which finished the regular season at 8-4.
A look at the top baseball performers from around the Mitchell region, through games played May 13.
* Winners in four of its last five contests, Parkston has been hitting its stride with a 9-4 record before facing off against Bon Homme on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Tyndall for the regular-season finale. The Trojans are currently riding a three-game winning streak with two wins over Mount Vernon/Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney and a victory against Wagner/Avon/Lake Andes. In those games, Parkston averaged 12.3 runs per game offensively. In the matchup against the Padres on Tuesday, the Trojans were paced by Jaxx Kurtenbach's two-hit, two-RBI performance, while Grady Bowar added two hits and two runs scored and Landon Weber had two hits and an RBI. Brycen Bruening earned the start in the mound with seven strikeouts, surrendering four runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk in six innings of work.
* The Platte-Geddes/Dakota Christian/White Lake Honkers boosted their record to 10-2 after a 7-0 victory against Gregory on Wednesday, extending their winning streak to six games. The Honkers were paced by Maddux VanZee's 2-for-5 day at the plate with four RBIs, while Asher Kott went 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Issac Leader added two hits, and Kenyon Kuiper earned the win on the mound, tossing a two-hitter through five innings of work with 14 strikeouts while not allowing one walk or one run. Jameson Leader came in relief for the final two innings and allowed zero runs on only one hit with five strikeouts and zero walks.
* Freeman/Canistota/Marion improved to 13-2 on the season this past week after securing seven wins out of its last eight games. In the 20-5 victory against Mount Vernon/Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney in three innings on Sunday, Easton Miller delivered a perfect 4-for-4 performance with four RBIs and four runs scored to the Sticks. Riley Tschetter added a 3-for-3 day with five RBIs and two runs scored, while Hunter Nankivel, Tayden Kerrigan and Easton Tschetter each added two hits apiece as FCM had 14 hits in the run-rule victory. The Sticks also rattled off wins against Vermillion, Bon Homme and Scotland/Menno in the past two weeks.
* On May 4, MVPCS secured its second win of the season in an 8-5 victory over Wagner/Avon/Lake Andes. The Padres were paced by Keagan Hill's 1-for-3 day with two RBIs and one run scored. Max Vanden Hoek had a hit and an RBI, and Sawyer Williams had the other hit, plus an RBI and a run scored. MVPCS had only three hits in the game but exposed WALA on the base paths, drawing 11 walks. Hill also earned the starring nod on the bump, tossing four innings with nine strikeouts while allowing four earned runs on two hits and six walks.
* Bon Homme is currently 10-3 and winners in 10 of its last 12 games with one more game in the regular season against Parkston at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Ethan Wagner is currently leading the Cavaliers with a .400 batting average and .591 on-base percentage, with only three strikeouts on the season in 44 plate appearances. Isaiah Crownover leads the team in RBIs with 18, plus a home run and 12 runs scored. Cooper Mudder (.395), Major Aarstad (.385), Calvin Caba (.364), Madden Merkwan (.341), Alex Adler (.333) and Carter Smith (.306) are all hitting above .300 on the season to lead a potent Bon Homme offense.
* In Class B, Dell Rapids is at the top of the league at 22-2, Madison is 18-2, Sisseton/Britton/Webster is 14-1, Vermillion is 15-3, West Central is 13-1 and Lennox sits at 14-4.