A late-game push from Redfield Dairy Queen paved the way to an 8-4 win over the Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar during a battle of rated Amateur baseball teams at Fossum Field Monday night.

DQ was seventh in last week’s Class B ratings, while Circus was fifth in Class A. Both entered the game unbeaten on the young season.

Aberdeen Circus got on the board first with a two-run home-run from Casey Vining in the first inning.

“Casey Vining came up and hit a 400-foot shot to dead center that went a long ways,” said Circus shortstop, Michael Babcock. “It’s a good feeling when you get up early. It gives the guys a lot of confidence. But, we know with them, they’re gonna scrap.”

Peyton Osborn started on the bump for the DQ squad and threw all nine innings, but a mistake in the first allowed Vining to hit that two-run blast.

“I gave up a homerun in the first inning and I was like ‘Oh boy,’” Osborn said. “In the first inning, I walked a guy with two outs, nobody on and then they hit the homerun. So, it’s like you don’t walk that guy, it probably doesn’t happen.”

However, DQ scrapped for two runs in the top of the fourth inning after the Circus put up one in the bottom of the third. The fourth was kickstarted by Bennett Osborn, who led off the inning with a single and stole second.

“Oh yeah, that’s huge. With the lineup we got, just top to bottom, everybody can hit. So, you just look for some kind of spark to get you going,” Bennett said. “That was why I kind of threw the barrel out with my butt out, so you know, just anything you can do to get it started.”

Bennett Osborn was able to score on a ground out from Cooper Hainy, and Peyton Osborn scored on a passed ball with two outs and two strikes on the batter to make it a 3-2 game.

Circus extended its lead back to two runs in the bottom of the fifth, when Babcock singled in a run to make it 4-2.

“We’ve seen them before and I was looking for a curveball, I’ll be honest. And I found the right one and was able to put a barrel on it,” Babcock said. “I think there was two outs when I came up there. … So, to get into those situations, and be able to get two-out hits, whoever it is, whether it’s me or anyone else, two-out hits are big.”

The Circus held that two-run lead until the top of the seventh, when DQ had the bases loaded with no one out.

The vistors scored one run on a walk before Bennett Osborn doubled in two runs to give DQ its first lead of the game.

“Oh huge, huge. ‘Pozzy’ (Peyton Osborn) was pitching a great game,” Bennett said. “So, we knew that we just had to get him a lead, and he’d take us the rest of the way, especially after he gets fired up.”

Peyton was still on the mound and to save his arm, he was throwing from different arm slots.

“Good, really good actually,” Peyton said when asked about how his arm felt. “I was mixing up different arm angles to try and help it feel a little better. Hopefully, get more ground balls ‘cause they were hitting a lot of fly balls early.”

Clinging to a one-run advantage, Redfield added some insurance runs in the top of the ninth. With two outs and two on, Bennett Osborn came to the plate with a game plan.

“So, I know Kelly (Coates) pretty well, he’s the catcher for the Circus here, and I got jammed in two of my at-bats. So, I knew that he knew that, and they were running on inside pitches,” Bennett said. “So, I knew that the guy that was throwing a little bit harder than their other relievers, he’d wanna come inside. First fastball missed inside, so I got a pretty good idea of what I’m looking at here.”

Osborn saw the next pitch pretty well as he drove it over the left field wall, for a three-run blast giving DQ an 8-4 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

“The pitch did catch a little bit more plate than I’m sure they both wanted. I just didn’t miss it,” Bennett said. “I said something right away. I mean, nothing bad, I was just like ‘Yep, got it.’”

With younger brother Peyton in the on-deck circle, he knew his older brother Bennett was going to come up big, he just had to return the favor on the mound.

“That’s my older brother. He’s got my back, he’s got my back. He always has,” Peyton said. “As soon as he hit it, I knew it was gone, so it was quite cool to see.”

Just three outs away, Peyton knew he needed to be efficient on the mound in the bottom of the ninth. That was not an issue as he retired all three batters to secure the DQ win.

“You just gotta attack. Once you start walking guys, or even one guy,” Peyton said, “so, you know, you don’t walk a guy there, which I didn’t, and then they find the outfielders, and it was game.”

With a lot of season left, the Circus players took the setback to Redfield in stride, knowing that bigger things lie ahead.

“We love playing them right now,” Babcock said. “But we’re more interested in the end of the year, the postseason, the state tournament.”

Redfield Dairy Queen 000 200 303 – 8 10 1

Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar 201 010 000 – 4 8 1

Peyton Osborn and Noah Hainy; Chad Ellingson, Cale Knutson (7), Lance Behrens (7), Phillip Zens (9) and Kelly Coates. 2B – Redfield DQ, P. Osborn, Bennett Osborn and Camden Osborn; Aberdeen Circus, Kris Kwak. HR – Redfield DQ, B. Osborn; Aberdeen Circus, Casey Vining