When the Brookings Bobcats couldn't go West River, they brought West River to them.

Though snow in the Black Hills area cancelled Brookings' weekend trip to play Sturgis and RC West, Rapid City was willing to visit Bob Shelden Field for a doubleheader Sunday, where the two teams split. West won 4-3 in the opener and Brookings came back strong to win 15-6 in the second game.

The real fireworks came for Brookings in the nightcap, as Zach Thomas homered twice, helping give the Bobcats the lead even before a nine-run explosion in the top of the sixth inning that left West crestfallen.



RC West 4, Brookings 3

Sophomore Pat Coughlin went five innings deep as Brookings' starting pitcher, scattering six hits as West scored four runs, but RC's Jerry Vifquan struck out nine in his five innings and gave up only two runs to the Bobcats.

Brookings made up one run of its deficit in the sixth on a solo home run by Jamison Kleinsasser, but couldn't muster a hit in the seventh and fell 4-3.

Andy Lee threw two innings of relief for Brookings.

"Pat pitched great," coach Ryan Bauer said. "But when you don't score a lot of runs, it puts pressure on your pitchers. Unfortunately, that's something we've had to deal with a bit this year."

Aside from Kleinsasser’s long shot, Todd Standish, Willy Olson, Austin Mouw and Coby Bullington had hits in the game for the ‘Cats.

Brookings had the tying run on third base twice in the final two innings, but couldn’t plate the runner and left 10 baserunners stranded in the two games combined.

“We’ve got to stop stranding guys out there,” coach Ryan Bauer noted. “Since our postseason is single elimination, that’s an aspect we need to improve on and get as many runs in as possible.”



Brookings 15, RC West 6

The Bobcats forfeited two separate leads and entered the bottom half of the sixth tied at 6-6, but pulled ahead in a big way in what would be their final at bats of the day. Brookings scored nine runs on seven hits on the bottom half of the frame, making it easy for starting pitcher Kleinsasser to hold off West in the top of the seventh.

Thomas homered twice in the game, as the sophomore bashed a solo shot in the second and a three-run dinger in the fifth to put Brookings up 6-4.

Though Rapid City plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, it was tenuous as to whether it would get a chance to bat in the fifth, as the Bobcats' big rally threatened to end the game via 10-run rule before it ended.

"It was nice to see it," Bauer said of the big run. "We have some guys who have been hitting the ball well all year, but there hasn't been a lot of games where everybody got rolling."

The onslaught began when Standish singled to score Justin Kirchhevel and move Olson to third. Kleinsasser doubled to score Olson, followed by a three-run home run from Alex Parker that made it 11-6. Kevin Hendricks, Riley Forsyth, Olson and Kirchhevel crossed the plate from there to set the final score.

Kleinsasser got a groundout and two flyouts in the top of the seventh to end the game.

Brookings' suspended regional game with Sioux Falls Washington last week leaves the Bobcats' record somewhat in doubt, as the Bobcats officially have 7.5 wins and 6.5 losses.

"There can't be a tie, because everything is based on winning percentage," Bauer said. "We're still not sure yet if we are going to replay the game, because Washington already has such a busy week."