Two big innings led to a season first for the Aberdeen Smittys Monday night.

The Smittys had a seven-run inning and a six-run frame on the way to winning their first Legion baseball game of the season with a 17-7 decision over Groton at Fossum Field.

“The thing is just, I just want to hit the ball far and have fun with my boys,” said Smittys coach Nathan Gonnelly said of his team’s attitude. “I think that’s been telling you that they’re figuring it out a little bit.”

However, the game didn’t start off that way. Groton struck first, scoring two unearned runs in the first inning, and an earned run in the third before the Smittys got on the board.

“One of the big things is we gotta just start producing in the first inning,” Gonnelly said. “I think there’s a combination of some things. We got guys playing new positions and just a little bit of the yips.”

Those yips didn’t last long as Karson Borge led off the bottom of the third with a triple.

“Initially out of the box, I thought the guy was gonna catch it, so I kind of took off all slow,” Borge said. “After I saw him misread it, or whatever happened, I turned it on a little bit.”

A couple of batters later, Joe Cogley hit into a fielder’s choice, which brought in the first Aberdeen run of the night.

“It’s perfect. As soon as I get on, I feel like anybody behind me can bring me in,” Borge said. “Everybody behind me can put the ball in play and soon as they do, I just wanna score.”

The Smittys broke the game open with a seven-run fourth inning to take an 8-3 lead.

A key component was energy which contributed largely to the success over the next four innings.

“That’s something that we’ve preached to them since spring ball is like if we are the team with the most energy, we’re gonna give ourselves the best chances to succeed,” Gonnelly said. “Just having that energy from inning number one all the way til inning number seven, whether it be nine or not. Energy’s a big part of this game.”

The first run of the fourth inning came on a sac-fly from Bennett Eisenbeisz, and was followed by a bunt from Borge. An error allowed Joran Foss to score from second and Jaxon Ladner to score from first. Ridley Waldo hit an RBI double, Grant Beyer prodcued a sac-fly, Lance Siefken added a two-run single, and Foss brought in Cogley on an RBI line drive.

Following the huge inning, Borge came in to relieve Foss on the mound and knew with a large lead he just had to put the ball over the plate and rely on his defense to make plays.

“I’m just thinking go up there and throw strikes,” said Borge, “and let the guys behind me make plays.”

One of those guys making plays was rangy center fielder Jeheil Aviles, who had to battle wind gusts up to 35 miles per hour.

“It was something I was not expecting. If you see me, I’m over here throwing the grass up in the air to see where the ball is going,” Aviles said. “It plays a big part in playing, and knowing where to go and just remember first step back.”

Groton cut into the lead in the sixth inning with four runs, all of which were unearned. Korbin Kucker got on base for the fourth time on a two-out error. He had tripled, doubled and walked in his previous three at bats. Gavin Englund brought in Kucker, before Nick Morris had a three-run double.

The Smittys scored one run in the bottom half of the inning, and two more in the seventh on a triple from Joe Cogley, who eventually got thrown out at home.

“I’ve kind of been joking with the first base coach that I’ve gotten a little unlucky here and there, and I’ve been hitting a lot of ground balls, so we’re like OK the next one’s gonna be in the air,” Cogley said. “I hit it in the air and right away, I think ‘Oh right to him, of course. Just my luck at this point,’ … and then I look and his legs are like broken on the ground.”

Teylor Diegel’s legs weren’t broken, he just slipped after misreading the ball off the bat causing the ball to roll to the fence in dead centerfield. Gonnelly sent Cogley home in an attempt at an inside-the-park home run.

“In my head, Joe’s gonna hit one to the fence, outfielder biffed it right? Now they have to make two perfect throws and get him out, and they did, so kudos to them,” Gonnelly said. “I got 60 people in the crowd waiting for an inside-the-parker. I gotta give them something.”

The Smittys then scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to give them the 10-run mercy rule victory. Aviles recorded his third single of the night, this time a swinging bunt which he beat out.

“I wanna hit the ball. He kind of lobbed it in there and I got ahead of myself and hit a swinging bunt,” Aviles said. “I was able to beat it out and score a run for my team, so I’m happy with it.”

Cogley followed that up with a bases-clearing double to evoke the 10-run rule.

“That is pretty much the same thing I said earlier, that I was trying to get it in the air, and luckily I was able to do that. Hit it off the hand a little bit, but that was fun,” said Cogley, who drove in five runs on the night. “I didn’t even know it was the end of the game. I was just on second and then Jeheil was like ‘Oh the game’s over,’ and I was like ‘That was fun.’”

With their first win of the season under their belts, the Smittys will hit the road to take on Brookings Wednesday with still a few things to improve upon.

“We still see positives, things that we need to work on,” Gonnelly said. “Looking forward to Brookings a little bit, and like I said we learned things from it.”

Groton 201 004 00 – 7 9 3

Aberdeen Smittys 001 701 26 – 17 13 4

Jarret Erdmann, Gavin Englund (4) and Karsten Fliehs; Joran Foss, Karson Borge (5), Jared Klootwyk (7) and Lance Siefken. 2B – Groton, Englund, Korbin Kucker, Nick Morris; Aberdeen Smittys, Joe Cogley, Ridley Waldo. 3B – Groton, Kucker; Aberdeen Smittys, Cogley, Borge.