RUTHTON – In the second game of the day for each team, the Edgerton/Southwest Christian Flying Dutchmen matched up with RTR Knights for the chance to stay in the winner’s bracket of the Section. Earlier in the day, RTR had edged Adrian 3-2, and Edgerton/SWC had beaten Wabasso 4-2. RTR is the #1 seed and Edgerton/SWC is the #4 seed, and with both teams coming off narrow wins earlier, it figured to be a good game among two good teams. In the end, it turned into a 12-2 victory for RTR.

The visiting team from Edgerton/SWC started out strong, with Trein Prins getting a one-out single. That was followed by a walk to Skyler Feikema, but Senior starting pitcher Aiden Wichmann was able to get a groundout and a strikeout to end the inning.

Wichmann then led off the bottom of the first by reaching on an error. He promptly stole second, and scored on a Chase Christianson double. Cody Wichmann reached on an error, and after a strikeout, Hayden Gravley doubled down the left field line to drive in two runs. Freshman Tyler Wichmann doubled to drive in a run, and he was able to score on a passed ball, giving RTR an early 5-0 lead.

Edgerton/SWC answered back in the second inning, Catcher Blake Schultz hit a one-out double and he was able to score on a groundout by Conner Ockenga, cutting the lead to 5-1. RTR answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Aiden Wichmann singled, and reached second on an error. With one out, Cody Wichmann got an RBI single, and Blake Christianson followed that with an RBI single of his own, giving RTR a 7-1 lead.

Jacob Uilk, the hero of the first game for the Flying Dutchman, led off the third with a single. Sklyer Feikema grounded into a double play, and Uilk scored when the throw back to third went into the outfield., making the score 7-2. In the bottom of the third, RTR put together a two-out rally. It started with a Brayden Appel single, followed by an RBI single by Aiden Wichmann. Pinch runner Sean Griesse then scored on a passed ball to make it 9-2 after three innings.

The top of the fourth started out with two quick outs for Edgerton/SWC, but Blake Schultz drew a walk, and Conner Ockenga was hit by a pitch. Then Aiden Wichmann was able to get the third out with a high popout he caught right on the pitcher’s mound. In their half of the fourth, RTR added one more run when Hayden Gravley walked and scored on an Eli Determan single to give RTR a 10-2 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Hayden Gravely took over the pitching duties for Aiden Wichmann, but after issuing two walks with one out, he was able to strike out the next two batters to end the threat. RTR came up to bat needing 2 runs for the win. Aiden WIchmann, who scored four runs in addition to being the winning pitcher, got his third hit of the day, then advanced to third on a throwing error. Chase Christianson drove Wichmann in with a single. The game ended when Blake Christianson drilled a shot to the gap to score Chase Christianson to give the Knights the 12-2 five inning win.

Trein Prins struck out three batters in his two innings of work, and Joshua Van Dam also had three strikeouts in relief.

For RTR, Aiden Wichmann gave up one earned run on three hits, with four strikeouts. RTR now moves on in the winner’s bracket, while Edgerton/SWC goes the Elimination Bracket.