The Pierre Governor baseball team’s season came to an end on Saturday falling in the Region championship 4-2 to Brandon Valley after beating Rapid City Central 13-3 in the first round.
In the first game, against Central, the Governors struck for three first inning runs to claim a lead they never relinquished. Jack Merkwan was the best hitter for the Govs finishing a home run away from the cycle driving in four runs in the win. Isaac Polak picked up the win on the mound as Jake Mayer finished the fifth inning in the 10-run rule win.
In the region Championship, both Brady Getz and Carson Askdal went toe-to-toe in the first three innings recording all zeros on the board. Askdal faced the minimum through the first three innings. However a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth by Tyler Schelske gave Brandon Valley a 1-0 lead and an RBI single by Askdal made it 2-0 for Brandon in the fifth. Matt Hanson drove in the first run of the game on an RBI single for Pierre but two big RBI singles in succession from Matt Brown and Joe Kolbeck did the Govs in, in the 4-2 loss.
Pierre finishes the season at 20-6. Brandon Valley will face seventh seed Washington in the semifinals next Saturday in Sioux Falls. Eight seeded O’Gorman will face the four seed Harrisburg in the other semifinal as three of the four host teams lost in the Region Championship game.
