The Pierre Governor baseball team would finally have its home opener on Saturday agaisnt the Harrisburg Tigers, but it wouldn’t go like they wanted. Harrisburg would sweep Pierre 6-2 and 10-0.
In game one, Tiegan Munce would start a three run fourth with a solo homer, his first of two home runs on the day, to extend Harrisburg’s lead to 2-0. Two unearned runs would score in the fourth to give Harrisburg a 4-0 lead, a lead they would never lose. Pierre would score two runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a wild pitch and a double steal, the only two runs of the day as the Govs had just two hits as George Stalley would double in the first and Cade Kaiser doubling in the fourth. Zabel would be tagged with the loss giving up four runs, three unearned on four hits, three walks and two strike outs in four innings of work. Braxton Kusler would get the win on the mound going five innings with two runs on two hits, three walks and 10 strikeouts.
In game two, Eli Kokenge would hit a three run double in the first inning and that’s all he needed on the mound as he would go five innings striking out 13 of the 15 men he retired allowing just one hit and one walk. Munce would hit a two run shot in the third in part of a five run inning to go up 8-0. Harrisburg scored a run in the fourth and fifth to get the shortened win. Overall Pierre struck out 27 times of the 36 outs recorded.
The Governors drop to 9-6 on the season while Harrisburg improves to 22-4 and 14-2 in South Dakota games. Pierre faces Stevens at home on Tuesday with coverage starting at 4:45 and first pitch at 5:00 on KCCR and on YouTube at KCCR Sports. Jon Winkler has the call.
