The Rapid City Post 320 Stars opened the American Legion baseball season on a chilly but good note, stopping Spearfish Post 164 12-2 in both games Saturday at Pete Lien Memorial Field.
The opener was closer than it looked, with the Stars breaking it open with an eight-run sixth inning, before controlling the second game basically from start to finish.
"It is good to be outside regardless of what the weather was. It was fine for that first game," Post 320 manager Brian Humphries said. "We did exactly what we needed to do today, so I am very pleased with the results."
The Stars combined for 21 hits on the day and gave up just two hits from five pitchers.
"It's just great to be back out on the field," Stars center fielder Lane Darrow said. "We all played pretty good, but there is plenty of room to improve."
The first game was competitive, as Spearfish starting pitcher Connor Comer held the Stars down early, giving up just four runs (one earned) and five hits through four innings.
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But Post 320 took advantage of four Spearfish errors in the sixth with timely hitting, breaking the game open.
After scoring one run on two Post 164 errors, shortstop Gage Darrow belted a RBI triple, followed by a RBI single by Jett Wetzler. With two outs, Brian Roselles reached on another Spearfish error that scored Wetzler. Lane Darrow followed with a two-run double.
The Stars ended the game on a run-scoring error by Spearfish and an RBI single by Gage Darrow.
Lane Darrow and Gage Darrow both had two hits and two RBI, while Wetzler had two hits and one run batted in. Isaac Dike also had two hits.
James Rogers picked up the win on the mound, giving up one hit and one unearned run in 3 1/3 innings, with Jett Wetzler pitching the final 2 2/3 innings, giving up one unearned run. Both had four strikeouts.
Danner Craig had the lone Spearfish hit.
In the second game, the Stars led 5-2 after three innings and scored seven runs in the next two innings to end the game.
Jace Wetzler came in and hit a solo home run in the third inning to spark Post 320, which had 11 hits and 11 RBI by eight players.
Lane Darrow, Rogers and Dike all had two hits and one RBI, while Ashton Dahl had a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning. Gage Darrow also knocked in two runs, with Garrett Grismer and Roselles also knocking in one run.
It was a good day offensively in the cold weather, Lane Darrow said.
"When we get more into the season, we will be able to hit a lot better than today, and we did pretty good today," he said.
Peyton Ness earned the win on the mound, giving up one hit and two unearned runs in three innings, striking out five. Xander Dansby pitched a scoreless two innings with four strikeouts, and Hayden Leighty struck out two of the three outs he recorded in one inning.
For the day, the five Post 320 pitchers gave up two hits and no earned runs in 12 innings, walking six and striking out 19.
"Everybody is on a pitch limit this early in the season, nobody threw more than 60 pitches. They were at 45 pitches in their last bullpen last week, so it isn't too big of a jump for us,” Humphries said. “We'll slowly start to give arms time to heal and recover, as we play Thursday, but most of the pitchers that threw won't throw again until next weekend."
Humphries said it was a typical first two games of the season, and it gives them plenty to gauge and work on. The Stars had seven errors on the day.
"There are some stuff we need to clean up, some of the infield, the routine ground balls ... way too many errors," he said. "But it's the first day of the season, so it will be that way. By no means are we in mid-season or late-season form, which is to be expected."
Aiden Haught had the lone Spearfish hit, with David Keller knocking in one run.
It was a tough day offensively and defensively for Post 164, which fell to 3-7 on the year with the two losses.
"We've taken too many pitches and that gets us in an off-balance count, where they can throw any pitch and we have to defend three different pitches instead of jumping on that fastball early," Spearfish head coach Isaac Taylor said. "We need to make sure we can get on base and get those timely hits."
Taylor said his team is still very young with just one 17-year-old and the rest 16- and 15-year-olds.
"That is exciting because we're playing pretty good baseball for how young we are," he said. "Getting these guys good reps at the A level is awesome for their development. By the middle and end of the season, we should be pretty competitive all of the way around."
The Stars return to action Thursday when they host Gillette, Wyo., at 6 p.m., while Spearfish hosts Belle Fourche Monday at 6 p.m.
