Aberdeen Circus came close to knocking off the once-beaten Harrisburg Woodies before losing in walk-off fashion Saturday night at Fossum Field.

Circus used a five-run sixth inning to take a lead, but eventually fell 6-5 on a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth during the first round of the South Dakota State A Amateur Baseball Tournament.

Because Circus was the lower seed, it batted first, but it was the Woodies who struck first with two runs in the bottom of the third, and another in the fifth for a three-run lead.

“Right away, we knew they were gonna hit the ball. Those things are gonna happen,” said Circus manager Evan Brandt. “Right away, our big thing is we’re gonna keep our composure. We’re gonna take our at-bats, we’re gonna let pitchers come to us, and I thought we did a really good job of that.”

Aberdeen pieced together a five-run sixth to turn that three-run deficit into a two-run lead.

“It always feels good to put up runs against those guys, so yeah it feels great,” Brandt said. “When we’re paying attention to the count and we understand what’s going on, we’re letting balls be balls, taking free bases, we’re tough to beat.”

In the sixth inning, Circus saw a combination of all those things. It started off on a four-pitch walk to Kris Kwak, followed by an error.  Colton Cox was then hit by a pitch loading up the bases for Easton Millar, who had struck out in his previous two at bats.

“He was beating me inside so I was sitting on that inside pitch, and I just knew I couldn’t go down looking again,” Millar said. “I was sitting on that inside pitch now. I talked with Evan, our manager, and he just said sit on it and stay confident with my swing.”

Millar drove the ball through the 5-6 hole for a two-run single, scoring Kwak and WolfDon Thorson, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

“I had to get the ball in play. If I get the ball in play, we score a run, so I was just trying to time up that fastball. And I think he still beat me there, but I got enough of that bat,” Millar said. “It felt amazing. The crowd loved it, and the dugout was going crazy, and it got me fired up.”

The next batter, Josh Steinwandt, lined a single to drive in Cox and tie the score.

“We’ve been struggling to score all game. Just trying to see something down the middle, try to see some strikes. He threw me an offspeed and I just threw the barrel out at it, and it landed for a single,” Steinwandt said. “It felt good and then hearing the crowd go. I mean, we didn’t really have a crowd this whole year, and the biggest crowd of the year. So, it felt good to hear the crowd go.”

Kelly Coates then moved Millar and Steinwandt over on a sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning.

“That’s Kelly Coates. That’s the game he plays. He’s been around baseball his whole life and he’ll play until he can’t anymore,” Brandt said. “He’s a super high IQ guy and we got that bunt right when we needed it and it pushed across some runs. Allowed us to take the lead.”

Jaiden Smith hit a sac fly scoring Millar from third to give Circus the lead.

“It felt great. I looked at the scoreboard, we had the lead, so I went over to Jaiden right away just giving him high fives,” Millar said. “We were getting rowdy, so it was fun. It was awesome.”

Steinwandt scored the final run of the frame on passed ball as Circus surged in front by two runs.

“They always say I got sneaky speed, but yeah, it felt good,” Steinwandt said. “Crowd was on their feet. It felt good to get that fifth run.”

Circus owned a 5-3 lead heading into the final stages of the contest. However, the Woodies clawed their way back with a home run in the bottom of the seventh, and a sac fly to tie the score in the bottom of the eighth.

Circus was retired in order in the top of the ninth, before recording the opening out in the bottom of the half inning. Harrisburg’s next batter singled, stole second and moved to third on a ground out. Jack Sutton then beat out a ground ball up the middle to provide the game-winning hit.

Aberdeen will take on the Sioux Falls Flying Squirrels at 11 this morning in an elimination game.

“We gotta hit. I think we gotta keep having that good offense that we have. We gotta pitch a little bit tomorrow,” Brandt said. “We’re gonna have a tough opponent, we’re gonna have a team that can swing it. I think it’s just gonna be key to keep the ball on the ground, make sure that we’re pushing runs across with our offense, and stay within the framework of our offense, which is that high-powered athletic offense.”

Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar 000 005 000 – 5 7 1

Harrisburg Woodies 002 010 111 – 6 10 3

Chad Ellingson and Kelly Coates; Kris Regas, Dalton Lehnen (8) and Mark Abrahamson. 2B – Harrisburg Woodies, Jack Sutton, Ryan Menssen. HR – Harrisburg Woodies, Menssen.