Howard scored in all but one inning while limiting Sisseton-Britton-Webster to just two hits in an 8-1 high school baseball contest on Saturday.
The loss dropped SBW to 0-3 heading into a twin bill in Elkton on Sunday. The local nine will take on the Outlaws at 2 p.m. and tangle with Elkton at 4 p.m. SBW’s first home game of the season is set for Monday in Sisseton against Border West with both varsity and junior varsity games scheduled starting at 5 p.m.
Howard pushed across single runs in the first three frames before SBW got on the board in the fourth to cut the margin to 3-1. But the hosts rallied for three more runs in the bottom of the fourth and added a pair in the sixth while blanking SBW the rest of the way.
“We got a strong performance from our freshman Chaz Vietor,” said SBW coach Mark Nelson. “He threw a lot of strikes and looked good in his varsity debut. We’ve been dealing with some injuries and we had some younger guys step in and do a fine job for us, but we struggled to get the bats going against a couple of good pitchers. Kaden Mills also did a nice job in relief.”
Nelson noted that coaches are stressing the mental aspect of the game.
“Our mental approach has to get stronger. We are working on building confidence and playing loose athletic baseball.”
Vietor went three and two-thirds innings, fanning two and allowing nine hits. Mills came on in relief and did not give up a hit the rest of the way. Ben Suther and Dylan Carlson came up with the only two hits for SBW.
SBW 000 100 0 – 1 2 3
Howard 111 302 x – 8 9 2
Chaz Vietor, Kaden Mills (4) and Colton Chapin; Nolan Mentele, L. Koepsell (4) and Koepsell
