By Jon Akre

605 Sports

BRANDON — The Angels are back in the final four for the first time in five seasons.

In a rematch of the 2020 Class B state amateur baseball state championship, Alexandria came out on top once again, 3-2, in the state quarterfinals at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park in Brandon.

“It feels awesome,” said Alexandria manager Peyton Smith. “It was a grind, it was even more of a grind. I don’t even know how to explain it. We scored runs when we needed to and Alex (Ferrin) threw a helluva game. That team is unbelievably good and we knew it was going to be a battle.”

The low-scoring affair started in the third inning when Canova struck first on an RBI double from Justin Miller. Facing a dangerous Gang lineup, starting pitcher Ferrin stayed in it with four consecutive shutout innings.

“Baseball is a long game, it’s nine innings,” said Ferrin. “It was the third inning and I knew our guys could get the job done on the hitting side of things and I just had to limit them.”

Ferrin allowed just two runs on seven hits and three walks in nine innings, striking out four to limit the Gang in the win.

After nearly eight innings of baseball, the Halos finally got the bats rolling. Jerrod Zens reached on a single before Cole Wenande bunted Zens to second. With a runner in scoring position, Tyson Gau drove in the tying run on a double to left-centerfield.

PHOTOS: The @AlexAngelsBB hold off the @CanovaGangSD for a 3-2 win Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the 93rd annual @SDAmateur Baseball Tournament in Brandon. (Photos by Rodney Haas / 605 Sports) - https://t.co/BGNa2hXuEO

; 605 Sports (@605_sports) August 15, 2025

“That eight inning, we got our lead-off guy on for the first time all game,” Peyton Smith said. “We bunted him over, that’s baseball gods. You play the game right, they’re going to treat you right and Tyson came through with that big hit to get us going and just added a little bit more hits towards the end of the inning to give us a couple more runs.”

Tied at 1-1,  Michael Schoettmer won a long battle with Canova pitcher Jared Miller, drawing a 12-pitch walk with two outs. After a Jordan Gau single, Tyson Gau scored on a ball that skipped away from Gang catcher Garrett Gassman to give Alexandria its first lead of the game.

“I told him ‘If you see something in the dirt it’s all on you,’ ” said Peyton Smith. “He got a good jump on it, and this turf makes it go a little bit further so that was big and he was just fast enough.”

Pierce Smith legged out an infield single to score Schoettmer from third, giving Alex a 3-1 lead, but the game was nowhere close to being over.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Ferrin got into trouble allowing the first two batters on a walk and hit batsmen.

“I definitely had to go through some things,” said Ferrin of the eighth inning. “The inning we scored three runs, it took awhile. I didn’t warm up again, I was a little cooled down but got back warmed up and got out of the inning with just one run.”

But Ferrin escaped the inning allowing just one run, even with a bases loaded and one-out situation. Peyton Smith trusted his pitcher to get the job done in a big spot of a close game.

“He’s been our ace all year and he threw one helluva game tonight,” said Peyton Smith. “I wasn’t going to take him out. I knew he was going to get through it and he did, so that was awesome.”

For Alexandria, it’s the second consecutive win after entering the eighth inning with a deficit, showing off the Halos veteran experience in the state tournament.

“I’d rather not have it that way,” said Peyton Smith. “But just all these guys on our team, we battled all the way to the end and it showed today.

“We try to rely on our pitchers to keep us in the game. We know our hitting is going to show up. Fortunately it was in that eighth inning where we put a couple hits together and made something happen which was big.”

Tyson Gau drove in one run on a double, Pierce Smith added an RBI on a hit and a walk, Zens tallied two hits while four other Angels recorded a hit in the win.

Canova’s Jared Miller took the loss, surrendering three runs on seven hits and three walks in 7.2 innings, striking out 12. Justin Miller had an RBI on a double and a walk while Jared Miller recorded two hits in the loss.

The veteran Angels look to continue their 2025 season in the state semifinals against Kimball/White Lake or the Parkston Devil Rays at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We’ve been in this position before, and that’s a good thing,” Peyton Smith said. “These next two teams that are playing, they’re never been in this position. Hopefully we can rely on our team chemistry and all of that, and be ready to go for the next game. Whoever we play, we know it’s going to be a battle.”