The Bandits open postseason play today, and the playoffs have taken on a different look in 2020.
Part of that was planned heading into the season and part of it is due to COVID-19.
No. 9 Brookings hits the road to face No. 8 Mitchell in a best-of-three regional today at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m. (if necessary).
A seed points system like the one used by the South Dakota High School Activities Association was introduced this season – the No. 1 seed is host to the No. 16 seed, No. 2 versus No. 15 and so on.
The eight regional winners are reseeded for the super regional, with the top four teams again hosting best-of-three series on Monday and Tuesday.
Those four victors advance to the double-elimination state tournament, to be held at the highest remaining seed on Aug. 7-9.
In the future, the regional winners would advance to the double-elimination state tournament; but it was modified this year due to the pandemic.
SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS A INDEPENDENT 19U BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
(Record shown includes only games versus in-state Class A opponents, seed points)
Regional [Best-of-3]
Today-Wednesday
No. 16 Spearfish (0-12, 33.5000) at No. 1 Rapid City Post 22 (19-3, 44.5455)
No. 15 Huron (0-14, 34.2857) at No. 2 Brandon Valley (20-5, 43.7200)
No. 14 Aberdeen (6-24, 37.6000) at No. 3 Watertown (21-5, 43.0385)
No. 13 Yankton (4-15, 38.4737) at No. 4 Pierre (19-8, 41.1852)
No. 12 Sioux Falls West (10-19, 38.7586) at No. 5 Harrisburg (13-10, 41.9565)
No. 11 Sturgis (8-9, 39.0588) at No. 6 Renner (14-9, 41.7826)
No. 10 Rapid City Post 320 (6-9, 39.2000) at No. 7 Sioux Falls East (12-12, 41.2500)
No. 9 Brookings (14-12, 40.0769) at No. 8 Mitchell (16-16, 40.1875)
Super Regional [Best-of-3]
Teams will be reseeded following regional
Monday-Tuesday
No. 8 at No. 1
No. 7 at No. 2
No. 6 at No. 3
No. 5 at No. 4
State Tournament [double-elimination]
At highest remaining seed
Friday, Aug. 7
Game 1: No. 2 vs. No. 3
Game 2: No. 1 vs. No. 4
Saturday, Aug. 8
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
Game 5: Game 4 loser vs. Game 5 winner
Sunday, Aug. 9
Championship
Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner (if necessary game to follow)
Brookings vs. Mitchell
Mitchell had 40.1875 seed points to edge Brookings (40.0769) for home-field advantage.
Mitchell is 21-21, including 16-16 versus in-state Class A opponents.
The Bandits are 20-15 (14-12).
Brookings picked up a 7-3 road victory to close the regular season Thursday at Cadwell Park.
The Bandits pulled away from a 3-2 advantage with four runs in the top of the seventh.
Jackson Krogman went 3-for-4, Rhett Zelinsky 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Parker Rykhus 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jake Ammann 2-for-4. Jamison Honkomp and Cole Mahlum drove in runs, with Krogman, Ammann and Zelinsky each scoring twice.
Caden Wright pitched five innings, allowing two runs – one earned – on three hits with six strikeouts and a pair of walks to log the victory. Ammann notched the save after throwing two hitless innings, surrendering one run on a trio of free passes and one hit batsman.
Season stats
Rhett Zelinsky has had a big season, appearing in all 35 games.
The William Penn baseball commit and Class AA All-State defensive end in football last fall batted an impressive .512 in the regular season. He went 63-of-123 with nine walks, five HBPs and just 12 Ks.
Zelinsky is slugging .813, racking up 17 doubles, seven three-baggers and a pair of bombs. He’s driven in 42 runs and scored 41 times. He has an OPS of 1.371.
Jackson Krogman is hitting .365 with seven doubles, 39 runs and 20 RBIs.
Jamison Honkomp is batting .354 with 26 runs and 24 RBIs. He’s doubled nine times.
Parker Rykhus and Henry Hammrich have also homered.
The Bandits have a pretty balanced pitching staff, with six players logging at least 20 innings.
PITCHING (sorted by ERA)
Name IP Rec. ERA K/BB
Caden Wright 24 2/3 3-2 2.838 28/21
Daniel Messerli 34 3-4 2.882 23/25
Jake Ammann 27 1/3 3-1 3.073 30/14
Rhett Zelinsky 28 2/3 2-3 3.663 31/16
Jackson Krogman 20 1/3 2-2 3.787 18/18
Mason Bebensee 30 5-1 5.600 17/6
