BROOKINGS — Through the rigors of the American Legion season, the Brookings Post 74 Bandits American Legion baseball team had a chance to take a deep breath over a rain-soaked week.

Thursday’s scheduled doubleheader was postponed thanks to the rain that has pushed through the area but it serves as a bye. At the midway point, the Bandits own a record of 5-9 in legion play and 8-12 overall. But if there’s one thing that they’ve learned it’s that they’ll need to build momentum to compete in what’s been a top-heavy Class A landscape.

“This is the best I’ve seen Class A baseball in the past few years,” Brookings head coach Carter Roach said. “The teams at the top are good. The teams below them are good. Even the teams somewhere in that No. 7 to No. 10 range are good teams. It’s a really deep field this year.”

To compete, the Bandits have to build on a first half of the season that had highs and lows. Brookings began the season strong, winning five of their first eight games including a four-game winning streak after losing both ends of a season-opening doubleheader against Watertown on May 28.

One of the constant themes of that stretch was the Bandits’ ability to attack the zone on the mound but things changed when they made a trip for six games in Rapid City. While Brookings did play four games against the second-ranked Rapid City Hardhats, they also split doubleheaders with Spearfish and the Rapid City Stars where they allowed several walks and defensive miscues that allowed their opponents to outscore Brookings 61-32 on the trip.

“We have got to attack the zone,” Roach said. “I think that’s what we did early in that first week where we attacked the zone, threw strikes and got ahead of hitters. In our losses, there were no secrets. We put too many guys on base for free, whether it’s walks or hit by pitches. We really just need to attack because good things happen when that happens.”

But even as the Bandits returned to action, they’ve made improvement. Brookings split four games at the Dakota Classic in Sioux Falls last weekend and were competitive in a pair of two-run losses to Aberdeen on Tuesday night.

Roach complimented the play of several members of the team that have stepped up including utilityman Owen Schneider, outfielder Tate Helmbolt and pitcher Breck Wilson, who has thrived in a pair of spot starts at the senior legion level.

“I have a group of really good kids that love the game,” Roach said. “That just makes my job a lot easier. I see some things I like and we do have some toughness and resilience. We show up to the yard and we want to get better, so that’s what I really like seeing after that tough trip out west and putting together some good innings.”

With shortstop Zach Struck and outfielder/pitcher Breck Hirrschoff providing a veteran presence to the lineup, the Bandits feel like they can establish some momentum down the stretch and Brookings will have plenty of opportunities to do so.

The Bandits have three tournaments in the second half of the season including the Marshall Wood Bat Tournament this weekend (weather pending), the Jim Peterson Fargo-Moorhead Invitational in Fargo from June 28-29 and the Gopher Classic in the Twin Cities from July 12-14.

But Brookings also will be the site of nine of their final 13 regular season games and the Class A State Tournament at Bob Shelden Field in Brookings from July 30 to Aug. 3.

It’s the first time since 2015 that Brookings has hosted the State Legion Tournament and the Bandits will have an automatic berth as the host of this year’s tournament. However, Roach said they’ll still look to improve as they look to make a run in the second half of the year.

“If we want to make a big run in the tournament, we have to be more competitive on the mound, get ahead of hitters and make the plays in front of us,” Roach said. “I can always say that but it’s really honing in and making the routine plays and not let the errors get the best of us.”