By Greg Mengelt
sports@joplinglobe.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Kansas Little League champion Cherokee gave up nine runs in the third inning and dropped its Midwest Regional opener 15-3 in five innings to Rapid City, S.D., on Friday.
Rapid City had six hits and a grand slam in the pivotal third inning, then added six more runs in the fifth inning to force the 10-run rule at Stokely Field in Indianapolis.
Despite the loss, Cherokee coach Bryan Burdette was upbeat about his team’s chance to come back and make a run in the tournament.
“We have three more games guaranteed,” Burdette explained. “We didn’t have to win this game to get to (the semifinals), and that’s our goal, to play on Thursday. It’s a long tournament. We have to keep our heads up and play better.”
The back-to-back Kansas state champions will get a shot at their first win of the tournament today at 4:30 p.m. against Nebraska champion, Kearney. Kearney lost a 2-0, sixth-inning lead Friday and fell to Coon Rapids, Minn., 3-2.
Burdette spent about 10 minutes in the dugout with his team after the game. His message?
“Just keep our heads up,” he recounted. “We’ve been here before where we’ve lost a game and came back. I fully feel that we’ll come back.”
Cherokee jumped on top early when Dustin Saporito led off the second inning with a home run to right-center field. Later in the inning, Travis Trayer walked and Jalen Merrell singled, but both were stranded on base.
Rapid City responded quickly and emphatically. The first six Rapid City batters reached and scored in the third. After Matt Minnick doubled to start the inning, Cherokee starter Bryce Burdette walked three straight, tying the score at 1-1. The next batter, Jesse Riddle, hit a line drive that just cleared the center-field fence for a grand slam.
When Minnick doubled home Jonah Hansen with his second double of the inning, the South Dakota champions led 9-1.
“That was a big inning for them,” Coach Burdette said. “They say it’s usually one inning that (makes the difference), and that was it for them.”
Rapid City finished with 11 hits to Cherokee’s five. Bryce Burdette had two of Cherokee’s five hits and scored once.
“It wasn’t our best game, obviously, but I don’t feel like we played awfully bad,” Coach Burdette said. “They just hit the ball well. As a coach, we’d say ‘move to the left,’ and they’d hit it to the right. They just hit the ball where we weren’t.”
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