Cardinal and Wood Ducks punch tickets to State on Thursday night

The Flandreau Cardinals and the Hartford-Humboldt Wood Ducks are both headed to the Class B State Amateur Baseball tournament, after picking up wins in the District Tournament on Thursday night in Canova. 

Flandreau opened the games Thursday with a 6-2 win over the Humboldt-Hartford Gamecocks. The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the 6th inning to take the lead for good. Keith Cutler had 2 hits, 2 runs and an RBI. Jacolby Anderson had 2 hits with 2 RBI and a run scored. Zach Wallner started the game for Flandreau and picked up the win. Wallner threw 6 and a third innings and allowed just 1 run on 7 hits with 8 strikeouts. Bret Severtson picked up the save, finishing the rest of the game and allowing 1 run with 3 strikeouts. 

The Gamecocks, who entered the tournament as the #3 seed, let another game slip away. They out hit Flandreau 10-8, but left 12 runners on base in the loss. Carver Hultgren gave up 4 runs, although just one was earned as the Gamecocks committed 4 errors in the field. 

Flandreau is off now until their first game at state. The Gamecocks will take on PBR tonight at 8pm.

The Hartford-Humboldt Wood Ducks qualified for the State Tournament for the first time in the teams history on Thursday, with a 5-4 win over the Colman A’s. Logan Larson went the distance for the Wood Ducks, striking out 15 batters on the way to the win. 

The Wood Ducks scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st to take the lead, but Larson followed with his worst inning of the game in the bottom of the 1st. Larson walked 2 and committed 2 errors to allow Colman to score a run. From there he was dominant until Colman scored 3 runs in the 7th to tie the game. The Wood Ducks brought in a run on an error in the 8th, and held on for the one run win. 

Larson gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks. At the plate, Brodie Herr had 3 hits with one run and an RBI. Austin King drove in a run and scored twice for the Wood Ducks. Paul Clark took the loss in relief. He gave up one unearned run and struck out 4 in two innings. 

Colman has another chance to make it to State tonight, when they take on Salem at 6pm on Dakota’s Best, AM 1390.