SIOUX FALLS – Tanner Christenson needed just 59 pitches to finish off a five inning no hitter as Flandreau Post 70 shutout Webster Post 40, 11-0, in the first game of a triangular at Augustana’s Ronken Field in Sioux Falls on Saturday.
Post 70 then ten-runned Elk Point-Jefferson, 12-2, to finish the triangular 2-0.
Flandreau (9-3) hosts Hartford/Humboldt on Friday at 6 p.m.
• Flandreau 11, Webster 0 (5 inn.)
Christenson struck out five and walked three in five innings of no-hit baseball, while the Flandreau offense scored in bunches in the first three innings to help push the game to the early run-rule ending.
Flandreau scored three runs in the first inning, scoring its first run on a wild pitch. Kolby Peters’ single scored Tash Lunday, then Tristan Peters’ sacrifice fly scored Kolby Peters to give Flandreau a 3-0 lead.
A run-scoring single from Maddox Biever and sac fly from Lunday gave Post 70 a 5-0 lead in the second.
Flandreau then used five singles and a walk to score four more times in the third inning to push the lead to 9-0.
Single runs in the fourth and fifth inning provided the 11-0 winning margin while Christenson kept Webster off the scoreboard and aside from walks, the basepaths as well.
“Tanner Christenson pitched really well with solid defense behind him,” said coach Mark Hoffman. “Our defense is really starting to come together.”
Ethan Hoffman had two hits while Lunday and Gary Moose each had two runs batted in.
• Flandreau 12, Elk Point-Jefferson 2 (5 inn.)
Flandreau had just five hits but took advantage of five walks and five EPJ errors to claim a 12-2 win.
“We tore up the base paths with 12 stolen bases and Tash pitched really well, continuing to challenge batters,” Hoffman said.
Post 70 scored a single run in the first inning on Hoffman’s theft of home.
Flandreau upped the lead to 4-0 with one swing of Hoffman’s bat, his double clearing the bases for three RBI.
EPJ got a run back in the bottom of the second.
Flandreau responded with four runs in the fourth and fifth innings, using three EPJ errors in the fourth and just one hit, two walks, and a hit batter in the fifth inning.
Lunday pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts, working around four walks and five hits to allow a pair of unearned runs.
Hoffman’s bases-clearing double was one of his two hits, while Biever, Christenson, and Sam Gassman had the other hits. Biever finished with two RBI.
