Day 2 of Cornbelt District’s in the Books

Day Two of the Cornbelt District tournament on Saturday featured four games where the winner clearly separated themselves from their opponents with the Canova Gang, Flandreau Cardinals, Humboldt-Hartford Gamecocks, and Lennox Alpacas each moving on in the tournament.

To lead things off on Saturday, the Canova Gang took advantage of a five-run third-inning, including two home runs in the inning from Cole and Kendall Gassman, against the struggling Madison Broncos, who was able to get a homerun of their own from Greg Biagi, but that would be the lone run scored by the Broncos. The Gang went on to win Game 3 of the tournament with a final score of 9-1. 

In a rematch of last year’s Cornbelt District Championship, the Flandreau Cardinals avenged their loss in the championship to the Dell Rapid Mudcats, winning with a final score of 4-1. Three of the Cardinals’ runs came in the top of the fifth, thanks in part to a 2 RBI Double in the inning from Aiden Ladd, who tied with Grant Hieb for a game leading three hits. 

The Mudcats only run came off of a home run from Dalton Lehnen. 

In the third game of the day, the Salem Cubs opened up their game against the number one seed Humboldt-Hartford Gamecocks with a run in the first inning, but that would be their only run of the game, and after matching the Cubs run with a run of their own in the first, the Gamecocks proved why they were the number one seed. Gamecocks registered at least one run in the first four-innings, breaking out for five runs in the fourth, giving them a 10-1 lead. After getting one more run in the sixth, the Gamecocks were able to put the 10-run rule into effect after seven-innings, beating the Cubs 11-1. 

Brandon McKnight dominated both on the mound and at the plate for the Gamecocks, only surrendering two hits through six-innings while striking out five. McKnight also had two hits, two runs, and an RBI. 

In the nightcap on Saturday, the Lennox Alpacas came out hot against Dell Rapids PBR, getting four runs in the opening inning, separating themselves from PBR early. The Alpacas scored three more runs in the fourth before PBR got their first hit of the game in the fifth. Alpacas then scored two more runs in the fifth, putting them in position to put the 10-run rule in place in the seventh, going into the inning with a 9-0 lead over PBR. 

With an RBI Single from Jay Green, who led the Alpacas with four hits, Green sent Roy Williams home to bring in the tenth run for Lennox, beating PBR 10-0 after seven.