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PREP BASEBALL: Dawson-Boyd slips past RCW, drops to CMCS

Photo by Joshua Guetter Dawson-Boyd’s Cole Kosbab rounds third after hitting a home run during their game against Renville County West on Saturday.

DAWSON – With the high school baseball regular season officially wrapped up, the city of Dawson was host to a full slate of Section 3A postseason games on Saturday. The first game of the day was between the Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks and the Renville County West Jaguars. With an atmosphere that only playoff baseball could provide, Dawson-Boyd, the No. 2 seed in the North Subsection bracket, managed to get by a resilient Jaguars squad by a score of 4-2.

Dawson-Boyd was able to score the crucial first runs in a big way. In the bottom of the second inning of a scoreless game, Blackjack right fielder Cole Kosbab made great contact on a delivery from RCW starting pitcher Justin Schrupp. The ball sailed over the left field wall for a two-run home run that gave the Blackjacks an early lead.

“I’ve never hit a home run,” Kosbab said. “So the first time felt great.”

RCW was able to chip away in the top of the third inning. Schrupp led off the inning with a single and eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly by catcher Jacob Grund. The run cut Dawson-Boyd’s lead in half, but they were led the rest of the game by starting pitcher Alex Swenson. Swenson dominated much of the game, and was able to get out of some tough jams with several big strikeouts, including back-to-back K’s in the sixth inning that left the tying run stranded at third base.

Dawson-Boyd head coach Daren Swenson was pleased with his pitcher’s performance.

“You got to get through the first game first,” coach Swenson said. “He pitched very well, only threw 79 pitches, did very well on that.”

The Jaguars were able to tie the game off of Swenson in the fifth inning thanks to a clutch two-out RBI double by Grund. The hit scored first baseman Tony Froland and tied the game at two apiece. The score would not remain tied for very long, as Dawson-Boyd was able to respond with a run in the bottom of the fifth. After doubling to deep left-center field, Blackjack shortstop Austin Schmitt came around to score on an error by the third baseman. Schmitt was the last batter faced by Schrupp, who went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three hits, three runs (one earned), and striking out one.

“I thought he (Schrupp) did a fine job,” said RCW head coach Randy Schaub. “He kept us in the ballgame and he just battles. Our pitching has not been very good all year as far as just getting up on the rubber and going after guys, and Justin did a fine job there.”

The Blackjacks would score an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single by second baseman Tyler Franzky. That proved to be more than enough for Swenson on the hill. The Jaguars were able to bring the tying run to the plate in the last inning, but Swenson struck out the last batter looking, which ended up being his ninth strikeout of the game in a 4-2 victory. In the complete game, Swenson gave up five hits, two runs, and only one walk.

The Blackjacks were led at the plate by Kosbab, who went 1 for 2 with a walk and the big two-run homer. Austin Schmitt went 1 for 3 with a double for the winning team as well. It was an all-around well-played game by the Blackjacks according to Coach Swenson.

“We hit the ball well, we ran the bases well; a good game for the boys,” coach Swenson said.

RCW’s season came to an end with the loss, but they were able to hang in all game against an experienced opponent. For next season, Coach Schaub is looking at getting back to basics with his young team.

“I’m all about fundamentals, we have to get better at the fundamentals,” Schaub said.

The Blackjacks advanced and played against Central Minnesota Christian, who had beaten Minneota earlier in the day.

CMCS jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before adding four more runs in the top of the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. After CMCS added another run in the top of the fifth, Dawson-Boyd managed to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth to get back into the game. CMCS then got one final run in the top of the seventh to go up 8-5. The Blackjacks cut the deficit to one, 8-7, but couldn’t get any closer and would fall by that score.

Braxton Thompson led the way for Dawson-Boyd with a 2 for 3 day at the plate with two RBIs while Alex Swenson went 1 for 4 with a pair of RBIs as well.

Nick Thompson took the loss for DB on the hill, going 3 and 2/3 innings while giving up six runs on seven hits while striking out three.

Dawson-Boyd will face MACCRAY on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Montevideo.

RCW 001 010 0 – 2 5 2

Dawson-Boyd 020 011 – 4 5 1

Hitting: Dawson-Boyd (Kosbab 1-2, HR, BB, 2 RBI; Schmitt 1-3, 2B; RCW (Grund 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Froland 1-3.

Pitching: Dawson-Boyd (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Dawson-Boyd (Swenson 7.0-5-2-2-1-9); RCW (Schrupp 4.2-3-3-1-4-1).

CMCS 8, Dawson-Boyd 7

CMCS 002 410 1 — 8 13 0

Dawson-Boyd 000 005 2 — 7 10 1

HITTING: Dawson-Boyd (Braxton Thompson 2-3, 2 RBI; Franzky 2-4, 2 RBI; Swenson 1-4, 2 RBI)

PITCHING (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO): Dawson-Boyd (N. Thompson 3.2-7-6-6-1-3; Sweson 2.1-3-1-0-0-0; Schmitt 1.0-3-1-1-1-1).

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