MITCHELL — If you were to make a list of amateur baseball’s top young players, Brayden Pankonen makes a strong case to be part of that list with his 2024 Class B state tournament outing.

Pankonen was getting it done on the mound and at the plate for Dell Rapids PBR en route to its first state championship since 2007, but winning championships is nothing new for the young star.

“It feels good, it’s the fifth one obviously,” said Pankonen on winning the state championship. “But doing it with this group of dudes, you know, some of them have never been to a state championship and just seeing their facial expressions makes it twice as good.”

Pankonen, a Dell Rapids High School graduate, won two high school baseball championships in the spring of 2021 and ‘22, a Class 11A football championship in the fall of ‘22, and a Legion championship last season for the Dell Rapids Post 65 Phils.

With that much experience on the big stage, the Class B state amateur baseball tournament at Cadwell Park was no big deal.

“This dates back to being a sophomore in high school, coming in situations where things won’t be in your favor, but I’m used to it,” said Pankonen. “I’ve got such good teammates around me, and they believe in me. They have trust in me, which ultimately, makes it easier for me to go out there and do what I can do.”

In Pankonen’s first full season as an amateur baseball player, he finished third on the team in batting average at a .349 clip with a triple and seven RBIs, including a .435 average with a triple, and four RBIs in five state tournament games.

And while his hitting stats are impressive, it was Pankonen’s pitching that fueled the championship run the most, tossing 8.2 innings across the final four state tournament games. Pankonen gave up just one hit, one walk, and one hit-by-pitch while tossing seven strikeouts.

“It's all of his competitiveness, I mean, he’s an intense competitor,” said PBR manager Dale Solberg. “And you can see it in his at-bats, you can see it now in his pitching, you can just see it all the time. He’s going after foul balls that are no way going to be caught but he won’t give up. It’s just persistence. Again, he’s a great athlete and it’s fun to watch.”

The left-hander especially showed out in the final two games of the tournament for PBR. Against Garretson in the semis, Pankonen drove in the go-ahead run in the 12th inning while tossing five-shutout innings of relief, and on Championship Sunday, slammed the door with two-shutout innings to secure the state title.

Dell Rapids PBR celebrates their 3-1 win over the Platte Killer Tomatoes in the Class B Championship during the state amateur tournament at Cadwell Park on Sunday in Mitchell. (Matt Gade / Rapid City Journal)

“I kind of treat every batter the same,” said Pankonen on his approach in the championship. “Just get up early, and if I don’t give up early just fight back, battle. So ultimately, just trust my defense cause I didn’t have a punchout there in my two innings which is different for me, especially in the state championship, but I trusted my guys cause they trusted me on the mound.”

Once the final out was recorded on PBR’s championship run, Pankonen said it felt awesome to deliver a championship back to Dell Rapids.

“Felt like I’ve been there before,” said Pankonen jokingly. “But it was good, it was fun. Seeing the crowd, all the PBR, all the Dells people. You just got a city behind you that cares about you and loves you. It just feels good. All these people out here. You do it for them. You do it for the city. You do it for the people that come and take their whole weekends off to come watch you play and perform. So it was awesome.”

As the awards were being handed out after the championship, many Dell Rapids PBR players assumed Pankonen would get the tournament MVP. Even Drew Sweeter, who received that award, was surprised to hear his name called.

“When they said my name, I was surprised,” said Sweeter. “He came up clutch for us this whole tournament in big situations. Last night was absolutely ridiculous what he did on the mound and at the plate as well. He’s just an all-around, athletic and great kid as well.”