Photo by Jake McNeill: Russell-Tyler-Ruthton shortstop Brayden Chandler (5) celebrates with teammate Gavin Schreurs (2) after the two scored the go-ahead runs for the Knights in the first inning of their Section 3A baseball tournament matchup against Yellow Medicine East, Thursday at Milroy Yankee Field.

This story will be updated with details and additional photos.

MILROY — An early rally decided the game early for the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights when they took on Yellow Medicine East in the Section 3A baseball tournament on Thursday. RTR’s early offense translated to a 9-5 win to keep their season alive.

Drew Monson hit a leadoff single for the Sting and scored on a two-out single from Lane Wohlman in the first, but the lead was short-lived.

In the bottom of the frame, Gavin Schreurs hit a leadoff single and Brayden Chandler reached base on an error. After Cal Almich jumped up to catch a line drive and Wohlman struck out another batter to put two away, a walk to Kolby Louwagie loaded the bases and Isaac Janish followed up with a two-run go-ahead single.

“Getting on base right away is crucial because it really sets the tone for the whole game,” Schreurs said. “If you can have runners at the top of every inning, you’re bound to score.”

“Just try to keep it going as long as we can, keep it riding,” Brayden Chandler said of the team’s mentality during the rally. “It feels good to go up early, and then you can just have fun playing. It’s not stressful, you can go out, do your thing, have fun and get the win.”

The rally continued as Colten Chandler drew a walk to reload the bases and Garrett Elton hit a hard grounder to third. A bobble on the transfer and an errant throw allowed two more runs to score, and another throwing error on a Tyson Burns grounder to short pushed across another pair of runs for a 6-1 Knights advantage.

Tyler Wichmann earned the pitching win for RTR, throwing the first 4 1/3 innings for the Knights. He struck out seven batters while allowing four earned runs on six hits and three walks.

Each team flashed the leather for some spectacular diving catches in the second inning. Right fielder Kolby Louwagie laid out for a diving grab in foul territory for the Knights in the top of the frame, and Kolten Blankenhagen did the same at the edge of fair territory for the Sting in the bottom of the frame.

Wohlman held the Knights off the scoreboard in the second and third, but errors continued to bite YME in the fourth. Elton walked before Burns reached on an error to put two runners on, and Schreurs reached on YME’s fifth error of the night in the following at-bat to score Elton. Wichmann also grounded out to drive home Burns for an 8-1 lead.

“We dug ourselves into a hole with too many errors, gave them too many free bases. A good team like that, you can’t do that, they’ll take advantage,” YME head coach Nick Richter said. “But once again, just proud of our kids for staying in the fight.”

YME battled its way back into the game in the top of the fifth. A walk to Drew Monson and singles from Hayden Kuehn and Gunnar Fagen pushed across the first Sting run since the top of the first, and Gavin Torvik hit a two-run double to cut the deficit to four runs.

Kolby Louwagie took over for Wichmann after the double, walking Caysen Lien and giving up a deep single to Dane Hildahl. Torvik tried to score from second on the play, but Colten Chandler threw the ball on a rope from left field and Elton made the tag at the plate to save a run and put two away. Elton then caught a pop out in foul territory, falling backward as he made the grab, to get out of the inning.

Wohlman was charged with the loss on the hill for YME. While he gave up eight runs in his four-inning start, none of them were earned runs. He struck out five batters while allowing a pair of hits and five walks on 100 pitches.

Janish led off the fifth by getting hit by a pitch and, after consecutive RTR strikeouts, he scored when Burns reached on an error to bring the Knights’ cushion back to five runs. Monson tried to answer in the bottom of the frame, hitting a single and advancing to third on a pair of wild pitches, but a ground out to third left him stranded.

Gavin Torvik tossed the final pair of innings for YME, holding the Knights to one unearned run with no hits, a pair of walks and four strikeouts.

Janish got on base when YME committed an error on a dropped third strike, but a strong throw from the outfield allowed them to get an out at the plate to end the inning. The Sting carried that momentum into the top of the seventh, with Wohlman and Torvik drawing consecutive walks and Lien getting hit by a pitch.

“We very easily could have quit, we could’ve given up, but our kids stuck around and gave ourselves a chance to stay in the fight. I’m so proud of their effort,” Richter said.

Brayden Chandler took over Louwagie with the bases loaded and no outs. He struck out the first batter he faced, as the Sting opted not to attempt to advance on the dropped third strike, but a wild pitch in the next at-bat allowed Wohlman to run home and cut the gap to four, but Chandler came up with back-to-back strikeouts to close out the win.

Heading onto the mound, Chandler said his approach was just to try to avoid giving up any walks and trust his stuff. He added that Elton has been great at calling pitches as a catcher, so he trusted Elton to make the right calls after seeing the batters throughout the game.

“We had the same kind of problem in Adrian… and I said, ‘Who wants to chuck?’ and he [Brayden Chandler] says ‘I will,'” RTR head coach Danny Moffitt said. “He stepped up to the plate and heck, I think we had three, four double-plays that Saturday, so I was going to go to him again. I think he thrives on pressure, he does good with it, so that was my go-to after that.”

UP NEXT

RTR improves to 18-6 with the win and next takes on No. 2S Adrian/Ellsworth in the elimination bracket semifinals at the Milroy Irish Yard on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

The Dragons have accounted for half of RTR’s losses this season, winning each of the teams’ three matchups. The first two games were one-run games, 2-1 and 8-7, and the Dragons knocked RTR down to the elimination bracket with an 8-0 loss in the second round of the 3A tournament. Moffitt said that the rematch will be a test of which team wants it more, adding that he feels like the Knights have been sunk by one bad inning against them in the previous matchups, but that they feel like they can be competitive if they clean up the mistakes.

“It’s tough to beat someone four times in a season … You just have to go into it with a confident mindset. Everyone work hard, do their jobs,” Brayden Chandler said. “If everyone puts in the work and works hard and does what they can, we should be alright.”

“The mentality just has to be 0-0 on the season,” Schreurs added. “We haven’t played them, they haven’t played us. We’ve got to attack, attack like we haven’t seen them yet.”

Yellow Medicine East finishes its season with a 10-13 record, and graduates Torvik, Hayden and Aaden Kuehn and Aidan Martin.

“They’ve been a great group of seniors. They’ve known their role on the team and what they need to do, and they’ve all embraced it and hung with it,” Richter said. “They were positive in the dugout, they were great teammates and we’re going to miss them. They were a good group of seniors.”

BOX SCORE

RTR

BATTING

G. Schreurs: 1-4, R, 2 SB, SO; B. Chandler: 0-4, R; T. Wichmann: 0-3, BB, RBI, SO; L. Tommeraasen: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 SO; K. Louwagie: 0-3, BB, R, SO; I. Janish: 1-3, HBP, 2 RBI, R, 2 SO; C. Chandler: 0-2, BB, R, SO; G. Elton: 0-2, BB, 2 R, SO; T. Burns: 0-3, R.

PITCHING

T. Wichmann: W, 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO; K. Louwagie: 1.2 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 3 BB, SO; B. Chandler: IP, 3 SO.

YME

BATTING

D. Monson: 2-3, BB, 2 R, SB, SO; H. Kuehn: 1-3, BB, R, SO; G. Fagen: 1-4, RBI, R, SO; L. Wohlman: 1-3, BB, RBI, SO; G. Torvik: 2-3 (2B), BB, 2 RBI, SO; C. Lien: 0-0, 2 BB, 2 HBP; D. Hildahl: 1-4, SO.

PITCHING

L. Wohlman: L, 4 IP, 2 H, 8 R, 4 BB, 5 SO; G. Torvik: 2 IP, R, 2 BB, 4 SO.