Every batter for the Aberdeen Circus got in on the act during a crucial baseball win on Sunday afternoon at Fossum Field.

Each member of the Circus lineup reached base in a 9-3 win over the Sioux Falls Flying Squirrels in an elimination game during the State A Amateur Baseball Tournament.

“It’s a huge key to have your complete lineup producing at the plate. I think looking at our lineup, one through nine, 6, 7, 8, 9 was the key today outside of Casey (Vining),” said Circus manager Evan Brandt. “You watch Kris (Kwak) and Colton (Cox), they got hot today. We got a couple doubles, a couple triples out of those guys. When your 6, 7, 8, and 9 guys are producing, your lineup’s gonna have success.”

In the first inning, it was the top half of the lineup that kick-started the Circus offense, producing four runs. Vining drove in Michael Babcock, and then came around to score on a wild pitch. Josh Steinwandt brought in WolfDon Thorson on a sacrifice fly, and Cox capped off the frame, plating Kwak on a two-out double.

“It’s great. Obviously that first inning, I think the numbers play for the fact of scoring first in a game allows you to be in a better position to win it in the end,” Brandt said. “I thought the top of our order did a very good job of getting on, getting over and getting in and that’s exactly what you need to do.”

Circus also received a strong showing from starting pitcher, Matt White, who actually plays for Baltic.

“Any team that’s eliminated, you’re allowed to draft from their players. It’s broken up in little districts so we have Baltic as our team that we could draft from,” Brandt said. “We picked up Matt and obviously he did one heck of a job today. Went out and getting us 15 outs is a really good thing for a starting pitcher.”

White threw five complete innings giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits, while recording five strikeouts. Circus catcher Kelly Coates had to get used to the new arm on the mound.

“Matt was a weird catch. I much prefer seeing him behind the plate than from the box, because he’s a really good arm. So, we picked him up from Baltic and glad I got to work with him,” Coates said. “I was a little rocky. I didn’t do a good job with him in the first couple innings, but he got through my nonsense, and we got on the same page, and he threw really well.”

The Flying Squirrels scored one run in the second and another in the third, cutting the deficit in half.

Both teams scored once in the fourth inning. Easton Millar tripled for Circus and Coates drove him in on the first pitch of his at-bat.

“Yeah, (Millar) getting a big hit right before that was a laser so he set me up. Got a guy on third and all I gotta do is punch him in,” Coates said. “It was go up and be aggressive. He’s gonna score on anything as fast as he is.”

Circus would then score four unanswered runs to move on to the final six squads in Class A.

Kwak drove in two of those runs on a triple, plating Vining and Steinwandt in the top of the fifth inning.

“It felt really good. Most of my at-bats in game one and game two have been shaky. So, to get one off the barrel, see it go over the center fielder’s head, it felt really good,” Kwak said. “Especially getting two guys in to bump the score up a little bit.”

After White’s five full innings on the mound, Tyler Clapp came on in relief and gave up just one hit in his two innings of work.

“Clapp did a great job of doing what he does, which is pitch to contact, let guys get themselves out,” Brandt said.

“Clapp’s been an awesome pickup for us this year,” Coates said. “Really grown up, and just a really refined pitcher who knows what he’s trying to do.”

Circus added another run in the eighth, thanks to Coates again. Cox singled and moved to third on a passed ball before Coates drove in him.

“Our intensity on the basepaths today, that was awesome. Our guys play the game really hard and really well,” Coates said. “I love being in this dugout with these guys.”

Lance Behrens finished up for Circus on the mound and gave up just one hit as well over the final two innings, striking out two.

“He’s a bulldog kid. He’ll go up there and he’ll give you everything he’s got for as quick as he can and get it done,” Brandt said.

“That was the best I’ve seen Lance’s slider tonight,” Coates said. “Man, that was moving.”

Circus tacked on one more run in the ninth. Jesse Babcock singled in Steinwandt, who moved into scoring position on a passed ball.

The whole Aberdeen lineup found success whether it was at the plate or on the base paths, as Circus collected 11 hits, took advantage of nine walks and stole three bases.

Vining, Kwak, Cox, and Coates each had two hits for Aberdeen.

“It really seemed like everyone did their job at the plate. We had guys on base and in scoring position and the next guy up was always getting a hit or advancing the runners, overtaking bases,” Kwak said. “Seemed like everyone was just doing a solid effort making sure we got runs on the board and that’s exactly what we needed.”

Circus will take on the Brookings Cubs at 3 p.m. Friday at Valley Springs.

“I’m gonna make two key points here: extra bases and walks. Those are two things, if we can maximize those, we put ourselves in a really good position,” Brandt said. “Those two things play really well to our athletic offense.”

Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar 400 120 011 – 9 11 5

Sioux Falls Flying Squirrels 011 100 000 – 3 6 0

Matt White, Tyler Clapp (6), Lance Behrens (8) and Kelly Coates; Cam Gadbois, C. Hurley (6), Kyle Gulbrandson (9) and Dylan Ades. 2B – Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar, Colton Cox; Sioux Falls Flying Squirrels, Dexter Payne, Zach Dibble. 3B – Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar, Easton Millar, Kris Kwak.