The Brookings Cubs entered Monday night’s home game undefeated at 7-0. Well, on the field at least. The Cubs technically suffered their first loss on Sunday night when half the team took an impromptu trip to the College World Series (CWS) and they had to forfeit. They returned to Brookings, and their winning ways, in a 9-7 win Monday night.
Starting pitcher Jake Pruchniak went to the College World Series on Saturday and Carson Jager was among those who went on Sunday.
“I saw Troy lose,” said Pruchniak, who allowed one run and three hits in three innings compared to five strikeouts. “That was unfortunate.”
“I saw Troy win!” Cubs centerfielder Carson Jager said.
His experience reflected the duality of sport, as he was sitting in the Ole Miss section. In their first trip back to the CWS since winning the NCAA title in 2022, the Rebels suffered the agony of defeat, becoming the first team to be eliminated. Meanwhile, Troy enjoyed the thrill of victory, earning its first-ever CWS win. The Brookings Cubs nearly experienced both sides of the coin Monday as the visiting Brandon Belugas scored the final six runs of the game in a comeback effort.
Brandon took the game’s first lead when Austin Reiter scored in the opening inning off of Jaxon Haase’s RBI double, but the inning ended with minimal damage as Haase was tagged out attempting to advance to third base. That was the first small victory in a game full of bragging rights for Haase’s many University of Sioux Falls teammates on the Cubs. Haase also closed the game pitching four innings, allowing five hits but just one run.
“Seeing him on the mound was kind of funny,” Cubs catcher Michael Zimmerman said. “Challenging a little bit. He gave it all he had, so it was a fun little matchup.”
The Cubs quickly took the lead when, with two men in scoring position and two outs, Zimmerman threaded a two-RBI double along the left-field line to send Rhett Zelinsky and Parker Winghart home.
Nathan Briggs opened the bottom of the second inning with a triple and Lincoln Vasgaard sent him home and avoided a tag on an RBI single.
The Cubs began to open up their lead in earnest in the bottom of the third inning as Zimmerman plated himself and Colin Gibson with a home run to left field. Zimmerman finished with three hits and four RBIs in four at-bats.
Leading 5-1 through three innings, the Cubs tallied three more runs in the fourth frame. After Brookings’ first two batters grounded out, Jager tripled, Zelinsky was hit by a pitch and Winghart scored both with a two-RBI triple. Gibson sent Winghart home with an RBI double to put Brookings up 8-1 entering the fifth frame.
Briggs scored another run, Brookings’ last, in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Belugas’ Trey Runge, Logan Kelling and Noah Verdoorn all scored in the sixth inning, the first two on separate errors and the latter on a steal. The Cubs prevented any further damage, however, getting out of the inning with the bases loaded.
The visitors continued to cut the lead in half with a solo home run from Runge to start the seventh inning. In the penultimate period, the Belugas drew within two runs when Haase stole third and soon scored on an error and Theo Giedd scored on Runge’s groundout, making it 9-7.
The Cubs went a third straight inning without any runs, putting them in a precarious position entering the ninth. Zelinsky took the mound and got a pop-up and a strikeout. A base hit on a close call and another runner advancing after a fielding error made things interesting. However, Zelinsky struck the final batter out on a full count.
The win moved the Cubs to 8-1 overall this season, still undefeated aside from a CWS sojourn to see a 12-8 win Sunday that perhaps inspired their own high-scoring game Monday.
The Cubs’ next game coincides with the summer solstice and Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21 at 6 p.m. against the Elkton Snappers, whom they defeated 9-0 in a road game June 1.
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