HURON – The Aberdeen Smittys showed off a high-powered offense in their doubleheader against the Huron Tigers Wednesday night. The Smittys put up 36 runs in two games, but it was only good enough to get them a split on the day.

Aberdeen won the first game 21-11, before falling 18-15 in the nightcap.

The Smittys started fast in the opener, scoring three runs in the first inning, starting with Jackson Post hitting a two-run RBI double. Michael Dutenhoffer followed with another RBI double in the next at-bat.

Aberdeen led 5-2 going into the top of the fifth inning when it extended the margin with five runs in the frame.

Levi Hoffman hit an RBI double, and in the next at-bat JaSean Rivera followed with a sac fly. Later in the inning, Jehiel Aviles hit an RBI single, and Karson Borge produced the final runs of the inning when he hit a two-run RBI double to extend the lead to 10-2.

The top of the sixth inning saw the Smittys score even more in a frame with six runs to push the margin to 16-3. Dutenhoffer highlighted the scoring with a two-run homer.

Huron responded in the bottom of the sixth with six runs of its own to close the gap, but Aberdeen closed out the game with five more runs in the top of the seventh as Dutenhoffer drove in two more runs on a double.

Aviles, Borge, Post, Dutenhoffer, Bennett Eisenbeisz, and Hoffman all had three hits for the Smittys, who finished with 22 hits in the contest. Post racked up six runs batted in, and Dutenhoffer had four.

“The bats finally came to play throughout the whole lineup with 22 hits,” said Smittys coach, Josh Steinwandt. “I was so proud of how the boys were competing at the plate.”

Steinwandt also gave credit to pitching for helping to get the win.

“Branson (Peterson) threw a great game for us on the mound,” Steinwandt said. “Using his off-speed pitches to set up his fastball. Working backwards like that will make you very successful.”

The Smittys fell behind early in the second game, trailing 12-3 after two innings.

Aberdeen got its offense going with four runs in the third inning.

Lane Schultz hit a two-run single, Aviles followed that up with an RBI single and Borge smashed a double that scored one, but Aviles was tagged out advancing home to end the inning.

Trailing 12-7 in the top of the fifth, the Smittys put another big inning together to the tie game, scoring five runs, all of which came from walks or hit by pitches.

Huron then took control with six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Smittys scored three more runs in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk and two bases-loaded hit batters, but left the bases loaded to end the contest.

Avile had another three hits, while Borge knocked in four runs to lead the Smittys.

“Going down 12-3 after the second inning is hard to come back from against any team, but we found a way to tie it at 12-12 in the fifth inning,” Steinwandt said. “Then Huron started hitting the ball, which their team has a bunch of good hitters, and they took advantage of a couple of walks in the sixth and regained momentum.”

The Smittys also were hampered by five errors, which contributed to their early deficit.

“We played five innings of great baseball,” Steinwandt said, “but we shot ourselves in the foot in the first two innings with errors.”

Aberdeen will compete in the Dakota Classic Tournament this weekend. The Smittys will play Gretna at 2:30 p.m. and Casselton at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Aberdeen Smittys 310 156 5 – 21 22 3

Huron 100 116 2 – 11 12 3

Branson Peterson, Karson Borge (6), Jehiel Aviles (7) and Levi Hoffman; Nolan Stahly, Tyce Huber (5) and Parker Bischoff. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Michael Dutenhoffer, Jackson Post, Borge, Hoffman; Huron, Trace Wenz, Zach Scheer. 3B – Aberdeen Smittys, JaSean Rivera, Borge. HR – Aberdeen Smittys, Dutenhoffer; Huron, Wenz.

Aberdeen Smittys 124 050 3 – 15 11 5

Huron 750 006 x – 18 15 1

Wheeler Malsam, Jackson Post (5), Lane Schultz (7) and Levi Hoffman; Tommie Martin, Chase Schuchhardt (5), Korbin Brock (5) and Parker Bischoff. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Jehiel Aviles, Post, Karson Borge; Huron, Schuchhardt, Trace Wenz.