The Aberdeen Smittys flipped the script to split a doubleheader against Pierre Wednesday night at Fossum Field.
In game one the Smittys outhit Pierre but ended up falling 14-3. Aberdeen responded in a big way in an 11-0 victory in the second contest.
While Aberdeen had more hits in the opening, six errors hurt the cause.
“Some of those hits, we didn’t get a whole lot of extra bases. I think we had three doubles in that game. Everything else was singles and just in weird spots,” said Smittys coach Nathan Gonnelly. “The errors certainly hurt. If you make six errors in a game, it’s not gonna be good for you.”
On the plus side of game one, the Smittys scored one in the fourth on a single from Jaxon Ladner and two runs in the sixth when Joe Cogley singled in a run, and Ladner took home on a passed ball.
In between game one and game two, the Smittys honored Grant Beyer, Jared Klootwyk, Joran Foss and Ladner for Senior Day, while also acknowledging Lance Siefken and Talon Dutenhoeffer as the team’s super seniors.
The Smittys wore an unusual jersey, sporting the red uniforms for Senior Night.
“Every win feels good, especially on Senior Night wearing the red jersey, it’s pretty cool,” said Beyer. “I think it’s kind of been an ongoing thing for like 10 years now or something. I don’t know when they got retired, but then they became a Senior Night thing.”
After the seniors and super seniors got recognized, the 14th recipient of the Bryce Anglin Scholarship Award was announced. The award is selected by the Smittys coaching staff in conjunction with a few guidelines from the Bryce Anglin board.
Ladner was selected as this year’s recipient.
“Ladner’s a great team guy. Ever since the spring, he’s really stepped up to the plate and showed us like ‘Hey, not only do I want to make myself better, but I’m trying to challenge these guys to find the best from them,’” Gonnelly said. “He just has that good flow of competitiveness while also being a great teammate and trying to get the best out of others. Overall, it couldn’t have went to anybody better and he’s very deserving of it.”
Ladner grew up watching the previous Bryce Anglin recipients and is now in that spot for the younger generation.
“It’s an honor, for Bryce, and the group of guys. A lot of those guys I grew up watching, so it’s fun to be on the same list as them,” Ladner said. “They got that list out there. I always used to look at it, whose names and stuff. It’s fun to be on there, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
The Smittys did not waste any time getting ahead on the scoreboard putting up three runs in the first inning, which was more than enough because of a stellar performance on the mound by Bennett Eisenbeisz.
“I’m just proud of how the boys bounced back for game two. Continued to hit the ball, extra base hits. Benny shoved on the mound,” said Gonnelly. “We had great plays by Ladner, GB (Grant Beyer), Joe (Cogley). You name it, we got it in game two. That’s our brand of baseball.”
The Smittys used more of a unconventional approach in game two by throwing Eisenbeisz. He gave up just two hits in five innings.
“I mean Benny, his knuckleball is filthy. It’s the nastiest knuckle I’ve ever seen. I came out here to catch him… and said ‘Hey, show me that knuckleball.’ I watched that label the entire time. That thing just danced,” Gonnelly said. “He’s gonna go up there and make them hit the ball. Trust the defense and that’s exactly what he did. Executed perfectly and he’s a lot of fun to watch.”
The Smittys cleaned up their defense from game one with a spotless game defensively in game two with no errors. Because Eisenbeisz doesn’t have a lot of velocity behind his pitches, most of the balls got hit to the left side of the infield, and Ladner and Beyer took advantage of that.
“I was just trying to get the ball in my glove and get it to first. Me and Grant, I mean it felt like every ball in the game came to us over there,” Ladner said. “We were ready for it. We moved Joe behind second. I mean, they were left side all night, so we were ready for it.”
Beyer at shortstop said all the action kept him on his toes and engaged throughout the game.
“It keeps me more involved and so it’s easier to make the play when it does come to you,” Beyer said. “Rather than, you know, four walked and then all of a sudden you get caught flat footed on one, so it’s nice in that aspect.”
Not only was the defense on point in game two, but the bats were hot. The Smittys put up nine hits, scoring three runs in the first, three in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth. Beyer excelled at the plate in game two going 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs and scored a run.
“I just couldn’t get the big end of the bat on anything. Didn’t really change much in game two, but I feel like a little more velocity on the mound,” Beyer said. “I just kind of knew if I just threw the bat out there, hopefully I’d be good.”
Ladner also took advantage in the box with a hit, an RBI and a run scored. He drove in Cogley in the second on a bases-loaded single.
“Bases loaded, you do a job. Next guy up, trust everyone behind you that they’re gonna do a job,” Ladner said. “I believe in all our teammates and all our teammates believe in everyone. So we know everyone on this team can do a job, so we just keep passing the sticks.”
Coming off a successful weekend that featured three wins on Sunday, and splitting the series against a solid Pierre squad, the Smittys are looking to play their best baseball at the right point of the season.
“During that point of the season where things aren’t going our way, it’s like ‘Hey. I’d rather be the team that’s cold in the beginning and hot at the end than vice versa,’” Gonnelly said. “And I think they’re really starting to buy into that like ‘Hey, we can get hot. We can do this and now it’s our time to shine.’”
The Smittys will travel to take on the Renner Royals on Monday, before hosting Sioux Falls East on Tuesday.
Pierre 520 300 4 – 14 10 0
Aberdeen Smittys 000 102 0 – 3 11 6
Porter Hunsley, P. O’Bryan (6) and Charlie Simpson; Joran Foss, Jared Klootwyk (5) and Lance Siefken. 2B – Pierre, Cooper Terwilliger, Dawson Getz, Ridge Lembach; Aberdeen Smittys, Foss, Siefken.
Pierre 000 0 – 0 2 1
Aberdeen Smittys 331 4 – 11 9 0
Brayden Houlette, Hudson Schaffer (2) and S. Sonnenschein; Bennett Eisenbeisz and Levi Hoffman. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Grant Beyer.
