MITCHELL – Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar scored early and late, and received another strong pitching performance from Chad Ellingson to grab a 4-2 win over the Yankton Tappers during the State A Amateur Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon at Drake Field in Mitchell.

Circus jumped in front in the top of the first inning and never trailed en route to the victory. Jon Baker belted a two-run home run to set the tone for the contest.

Aberdeen added another run in the top of the sixth inning on Casey Vining’s RBi triple.

Yankton made things interesting with single runs in the seventh and eighth frames. Yankton put a run on the board on a back-to-back triple and double with one out in the eighth, however, Ellingson slammed the door shut from there, retiring the final five batters in order to seal the victory.

Circus added one more fun in the ninth on a two-out run-producing single by Kelly Coates.

Ellingson, who had thrown a total of 299 pitches in two prior postseason outings this summer, went the distance once again, this time with 127 pitches. He struck out eight batters en route to the win.

Vining and Josh Steinwandt topped Circus with two hits apiece.

Circus will now take on the Sioux Falls Brewers at 11 this morning with the winner facing the Sioux Falls Squirrels at 1 this afternoon for the chance to advance to Sunday’s championship game against the Renner Monarchs.

Aberdeen Circus 200 001 001 – 4 9 0

Yankton Tappers 000 000 110 – 2 9 0

Chad Ellingson and Kelly Coates; Kade Sudbeck and Shugo Kondo. 2B – Aberdeen Circus, Casey Vining; Yankton Tappers, Mitch Gullickson 2, Kondo. 3B – Aberdeen Circus, Vining; Yankton Tappers, Colin Zahrbock. HR – Aberdeen Circus, Jon Baker.