GRANITE FALLS — Bennett Knapper outlasted Mitchell Bouwman in a Corn Belt League pitcher’s duel on Friday night. While both pitchers threw complete games and held their opponents scoreless for the final five innings, it was Knapper’s Granite Falls Kilowatts that came out on top in the end with a 3-2 win over the Marshall A’s.

Knapper struck out eight batters while walking just two over nine innings, limiting the A’s to a pair of earned runs on six hits. Bouwman, meanwhile, struck out 14 Kilowatts while giving up two earned runs and one unearned run on five hits and two walks over eight frames.

The A’s led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth when the Kilowatts seized the lead. Ty Schulte and Colton Viene hit consecutive singles to put the tying run on base with one out, and Bryce Sneller doubled both runners in to give the Kilowatts a 3-2 lead. Neither team scored for the rest of the game.

Vien and Sneller led the Kilowatts with two hits each while Schulte also reached base twice on a single and a walk.

Connor Neubeck led the Marshall bats with a pair of doubles for two RBIs while Wesley Sarsland added another pair of singles.

With one out in the top of the third, Andrew Cowden walked and Noah Frazee and Ashton Blomberg each singled to load the bases for Marshall. A strikeout put two away but Neubeck came up clutch with a two-run go-ahead double.

Schulte scored the first run of the game for the Kilowatts in the bottom of the second when he walked, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a Vien line-drive single to left field.

Granite Falls improves to 1-2 with the win and next goes on the road to take on Wabasso on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Marshall drops to 2-2 on the season and will look to rebound when it hosts Bird Island on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Cottonwood 7, Dawson 0

DAWSON — Seth Boerboom threw all nine innings of the Cottonwood Cardinals’ Land O’ Ducks win over the Dawson Drakes on Friday night. Boerboom struck out four batters while giving up four hits and no walks in the shutout effort, propelling the Cardinals to a 7-0 win.

For the Drakes, Braden Thompson took the loss on the mound. He threw the game’s first five innings, giving up six hits and three walks with four strikeouts. While he surrendered six runs, five of them were unearned. The Blackjacks finished the night with six errors while Cottonwood did not commit one.

After three scoreless innings, Cottonwood got on the scoreboard in the fourth. Jacob Rausch and Taiven Isaackson reached base on an error and a single, and Ayden St. Pierre hit an RBI single to give the Cardinals the game’s first run. Justin Timm then reached on an error to drive in another pair of runs for a 3-0 Cardinal advantage.

Isaackson finished with a game-high three hits, all singles, while Boerboom and Nate Jensen each added another pair for the Lakers. Jensen also walked twice while Boerboom walked once and drove in a run.

In the top of the fifth, Cottonwood doubled its lead. Jensen walked before scoring on a Boerboom ground out. With two outs, Rausch doubled before scoring on an Isaackson single and an error, and St. Pierre reached on another error to score Isaackson for a 6-0 Cottonwood lead.

The Cardinals added one last run in the sixth when Jensen doubled, stole third and scored on an Aaron Lienemann single.

Blake Thompson pitched four innings of relief for the Blackjacks, giving up one earned run on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts. 

Dawson falls to 0-2 on the season with the loss and will look to bounce back when it hosts Madison on Friday at 6 p.m.

Cottonwood improves to 3-0 on the season and next goes on the road to take on the Hancock Orphans on Saturday, June 7 at 2 p.m.

Raymond 7, Wabasso 1

WABASSO — The Raymond Rockets’ hot bats were too much for the Wabasso Jaxx to handle in a Friday night Corn Belt League matchup, with the Rockets cruising to a 7-1 win.

Wabasso’s lone run came in the bottom of the third when Noah Anderson singled before scoring on a Maxim Dillon single to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Yet, the Rockets responded with a two-run home run from Brady Kienitz in the next inning and a three-run fifth inning (highlighted by a two-run double from Isaac Call) to take a 7-1 lead. They never looked back.

Joseph Liebl pitched the first four innings for the Jaxx, giving up four earned runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Dillon pitched the final five innings of relief, giving up one earned run on four hits and four walks with a pair of strikeouts.

Liebl and Dillon each singled twice to lead the Wabasso bats.

John Sawatzky pitched the first seven innings for the Rockets, giving up one earned run on eight hits and a pair of walks with 10 strikeouts. Call and Zach Nelson each pitched a perfect inning of relief for the Rockets with one strikeout each.

Wabasso falls to 1-2 with the loss and hosts Granite Falls for its next game on Sunday at 5 p.m.