Dell Rapids Mudcats' title defense remains in play after holding off Larchwood in Class B second round
Aug. 10—MITCHELL — Trailing 7-0 after five innings, the Larchwood (Iowa) Diamonds nearly pulled off the rally needed to defeat the defending Class B state amateur baseball champions from Dell Rapids, but it was the Mudcats who advanced to the quarterfinal round with an 8-6 win on Tuesday at Cadwell Park.
It sets up a teal-tinged matchup between the Mudcats and Dimock/Emery at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Class B quarterfinal round.
The eight runs for Dell Rapids came despite only five hits for the Mudcats, who benefitted from four Diamond errors. Mark Abrahamson's second-inning three-run home run pushed the lead to 5-0 early on for Dell Rapids. Chad Hunt scored three times and Ty Hoglund scored twice for Dell Rapids (16-6).
Kris Regas paced the Mudcats on the mound, throwing seven innings and 125 pitches, allowing five hits, five runs (two earned) and striking out 10. John Spaeth recorded four outs in relief with three strikeouts and a run allowed before Dalton Lehnen logged the final two outs via strikeout in the ninth for the save.
Larchwood's Brian Wede took the loss. He threw six innings and allowed five hits, six runs and struck out five, with four walks.
The Diamonds, trailing 8-1 going to the final three innings, scored four runs in the seventh inning and once in the eighth to cut the lead to 8-6 on a Chase Vander Feen RBI double. In the ninth, Larchwood had the tying run on base but could not squeeze any more runs as Lehnen closed the door.
