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On Friday, August 8, Wagner traveled to Clear Lake to participate in the Bravo Division of the VFW 14U State Baseball Tournament.

The first part of this tournament was pool play. In game one we took on Sisseton. Wagner got three runs in the first inning with Connor Gabel coming up with the big blow, that being a two-run double to score Colton Zephier and Jackson Woods, who each had previously singled. Connor would later score on a wild pitch for the third run.

After a scoreless second, Sisseton cut the lead to one after using a walk, two singles, and an error to score two unearned runs.

Wagner answered with two in the 4th inning on RBI singles by Woods and Ethan Gabel to score Cooper Gene Kuhlman and Zephier. This put the score at 5-2 in Wagner’s favor heading into the final inning. Sisseton had a man on first with two out. A double over the centerfielder turned into the final out as a perfect Ethan Gabel to Zephier to Kuhlman relay nabbed the final out at the plate and Wagner came out with the win.

Defensively, we handed the ball to Ol’ Reliable, Jacob Kotab, and once again he came through. He pitched all fiveinningsgivingupjusttwounearnedrunsonthreehits and four walks, while striking out two. He did have quite a bit of help behind him as Zephier and Tyler Ronfeldt each assisted on four outs with cleanly fielded ground balls. Landon Ronfeldt had two assists as well.

Offensively, Wagner scored their five runs on five hits, seven walks, and two Sisseton errors. Zephier and Woods each had two hits while Connor Gabel contributed the double.

Wagner was next matched up against Winner. Colton Zephier got the ball in this game and things did not go as we would have liked. The Winner bats were hot as they stung the ball all over the place collecting 15 runs on 16 hits as they won by a score of 15-2. Colton allowed 12 runs, eight earned, on 13 hits and a walk in 2.1 innings of work. He struck out three. Connor Gabel then threw an inning and a third. He allowed three earned runs on three hits and a walk. Austin DeVries then came on to get the final out as he struck out the only batter he faced.

We only had two hits in this game, one each by Woods and Mason Milk. Woods and Ethan Gabel scored the two Wagner runs on a botched bases loaded pickoff attempt by Winner.

Dell Rapids would be the opponent in game number three which took place on Saturday, August 9, and they would jump out to a 4-0 lead after two innings as Wagner’s pitching and defense struggled in the early stages. We settled down a bit and cut the lead to 4-2 after we plated two runs in the fourth on RBI singles by DeVries and Tyler Ronfeldt.

Dellswouldanswerback,however,withtwomoreruns in the fifth and after each team scored a run in the sixth, the final score would be 7-3 in favor of Dell Rapids.

Connor Gabel toed the slab in this one and after a rocky first couple of innings he settled down and was much more consistent as he went the distance in this game throwing six complete innings. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on nine hits, four walks and two hit batters while striking out one.

Offensively, Zephier, Woods, DeVries, Tyler Ronfeldt, and Ethan Gabel each had a hit with Woods getting a double. Woods scored twice and Ethan Gabel crossed the plate once.

As we entered day three with a 1-2 record, we were matched up with the Honkers from Claremont. We were the visiting team and by the time Claremont had recorded the third out of the inning, we had an 8-0 lead as we used eight hits to score those runs.

Things were quiet for a while after that, however. We always seem to have that one inning defensively where things just go sideways and in this game it was the 4th inning as Claremont used a walk, two hits, and three errors to cut the lead to 8-4. In the 5th inning, Claremont used four walks to push another run across while Wagner continued to put up nothing but zeroes.

The score stood 8-5 heading into the final frame and we finally scored to give ourselves a cushion as three runs crossed the plate. Claremont would get nothing in their half and Wagner would close out their season with the 11-5 victory.

Tyler Ronfeldt was the pitcher of record as he went four innings allowing the four unearned runs on two hits and five walks while striking out six. DeVries pitched the fifth inning and allowed the one run on four walks while striking out two. Landon Ronfeldt earned the save as he pitched two scoreless innings of relief. He allowed no runs and struck out three.

The bats were led by Ethan Gabel, Jackson Woods, and Landon Ronfeldt as they all had two hits with Ronfeldt knocking in three runs and Ethan Gabel, two. Jacob Kotab had one hit and three RBI. One of Jacob’s RBI was a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt that scored Alex Reiter. Tyler Ronfeldt and Colton Zephier each had a hit, an RBI, and a run scored. Connor Gabel had a hit, two RBI, and two runs scored. DeVries and Kuhlman both had one hit with DeVries scoring a run.

These boys would finish this Bravo Division State Tournament with a record of 2-2 and ended up in 5th place. Sisseton would win this tournament with their only loss coming at our hands. The overall record on the season was 15-16.

On a sidenote, these kids also came away with the Sportsmanship Award for this tournament. To walk out on the last day of our season with a win and this award was extra special.

Onbehalf of SamMetzgerandmyself,we’dliketothank all the parents and family who have helped and supported us all season. To the VFW Post 7319 who supports us and allows us to play this game year in and year out. Thank you to Mel Otte who organized the concession stand and ticket takers all year. Thank you to Bridgette Muller who helped organize the hotel rooms and laundry duties in Watertown. To Fort Randall Telephone Company for sponsoring/purchasing T-shirts for the team and Rachel Woodsfordesigningthem. FirstDakotaandCommercial State Banks for being sponsors for the state tournament program. TheCityof Wagner,workers, and Westendorf Electric for the help with the field and lights.

And, of course, thank you to all the players. We hope you had a good time this season and that you learned a little bit about the greatest game there is. We hope to see you all back next year.

Photos by Mieke Slaba