BROOKINGS – Sullivan Schlimgen’s walk-off single punched Renner’s ticket to the championship of the Legion State Baseball Tournament on Friday night as the Royals eliminated Harrisburg with a 7-6 victory.

Schlimgen came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning after Brylon Bear singled, Rylan Arbogast walked and Charlie Hueners reached on a bunt single. Schlimgen then ripped a single to center field and Argobast jogged home to score the winning run.

Harrisburg led 3-2 after the first two innings. Maddux Scherer walked with two outs in the top of the first for Harrisburg and then came home on a Eli Kokenge single to make it 1-0. Kyle Konechne walked with one out for the Royals in the bottom of the inning and then scored on an error to tie the game.

Coen Cook hit a one-out single for Harrisburg in the top of the second. Carter Gronseth came to the plate next and launched one over the left field fence to put them up 3-1. Bear hit a one-out single in the bottom of the inning for the Royals and then made it to second on a sacrifice bunt from Arbogast. He then came home on a Hueners single to make it a one-run game going into the third.

Harrisburg doubled its lead in the top of the third. Kokenge hit a one-out single and Noah Boschee followed with a double. Palmer Boyd then hit Kokenge home with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. Brody Jacobsen hit an RBI single for Renner in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead back to one as the game went into the fourth.

Gronseth walked to begin the fourth and then made it to second on a single from J Riley. Both runners advanced on a ground out from Max Carlson and then Gronseth came home on a sacrifice fly from Scherer but Carlson was tagged out trying to advance to third and the half inning ended.

That allowed Renner to get its first lead of the game in the bottom of the inning. Arbogast walked to begin the inning and Hueners followed with a single. Arbogast came home on a double from Schlimgen and Hueners scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Schlimgen then scored on a ground out from Zach Dunham to give Renner a 6-5 lead heading into the fifth.

Teigan Munce walked to begin the fifth for Harrisburg. He then stole second and scored on a single from Kokenge to tie the game. Renner had two runners in the bottom of the fifth but couldn’t push one across so it was 6-6 heading into the sixth.

Harrisburg went down one-two-three in the top of the sixth and the Royals got two runners on again in the bottom of the inning but had nothing to show for it. Scherer hit a one-out double for Harrisburg in the top of the second and then made it to third on a passed ball, but Jacob Sanderson got the final two outs for the Royals and that set up Schlimgen’s heroics in the bottom of the inning.

Each team had nine hits. Schlimgen was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Hueners was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Jacobsen was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Bear was 2-for-3. Hunter Den Boer was 1-for-3 Dunham had an RBI without a hit.

Kokenge led Harrisburg, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Scherer was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Gronseth was 1-for-2 with two RBIs. Riley was 2-for-4 and Cook was 1-for-3. Boschee was 1-for-4.

Sanderson pitched a complete game for the Royals. He gave up six earned runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and six walks. Darren Safranski got the start for Harrisburg and pitched the first four innings. He gave up six earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Gronseth pitched the next two and a third innings and picked up the loss. He gave up one earned run on one hit with two strikeouts and four walks. Boyd pitched a third of an inning and gave up the game-winning hit.

Renner will play Brookings in the championship on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Royals need to win just one game to win the tournament, while the Bandits would need to win two if they wanted to be crowned champions.