By Jon Akre

605 Sports

MITCHELL — The defending State B champions advanced to the quarterfinals after a 9-6 victory over the Pony Hills League champion Kimball/White Lake Nationals Tuesday night at Cadwell Park.

And it didn’t take long for Canova to pick-up where they left off in round one, plating three runs in the top of the first inning with a Jason Miller RBI-single and a Kendall Gassman two-RBI single as well on Kimball/White Lake’s Ethan Price.

“Anytime you can put up a crooked number in that first inning it’s huge,” said Canova catcher and manager Garrett Gassman. “Especially in this tournament, obviously it puts a little pressure on them, takes a little pressure off of your starter.

PHOTOS from the @CanovaGangSD 9-6 win over the @Nationals_KWLTuesday in second-round play from the @SDAmateur Tournament in Mitchell - (Photos by Rodney Haas/605 Sports) - https://t.co/YlMj6aRgbY pic.twitter.com/Aiylig5dCe

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With an established lead, Canova’s starting pitcher Derek Miller went to work, striking out seven batters in the first four innings.

“The most important thing is to go throw a zero the next half inning,” said Miller on the early three-run lead. “With them putting up a three spot, me putting up a zero is huge cause it helps build momentum. I’m pitching well, they can rely on me, and they can go score more runs.”

But Miller wasn’t able to go much after the fourth inning, and ultimately exited in the fifth due to elbow soreness.

“We could’ve worked something out, we got out of the jam,” said Miller. “The score at the time, it was 8-0, not to say we were coasting but we felt good about the guys we were bringing in to finish the game.”

Canova continued to put the pressure on offensively. In the fourth, the Gang opened the game wide open with five runs on seven hits to build an 8-0 lead.

“You can say whatever you want about pitching in this tournament. Obviously you need a lot of it cause winning five games in a week is tough to do,” said Gassman. “ Being a consistent hitting team at this time of year will often trump good pitching.”

Canova tallied 16 total hits in the win, including seven different players tallying multiple hits.

KWL was able to get on the board in the fifth on a Jonny Lyons RBI-single, but was quickly matched in the seventh on an error by third baseman Dylanger Pierson to make it 9-1 going into the last half inning.

The Nationals were down to its final two outs of the season when it surged a late rally getting bases loaded, driving in five runs on a walk and a grand slam by Lyons.

“It obviously helps being up eight going into the ninth inning,” said Gassman. “Kind of got a little complacent maybe there towards the end, but ultimately got the win so I guess it was a good day.”

Despite the loss, KWL fought all the way to the end, and even got the tying run to the plate before the final out was recorded.

“Got to give it to them for continuing to battle all the way to the end,” said Gassman. “But I’m glad we were able to get the win.”

The defending state champions will move on to the quarterfinal round on Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Cornbelt league-foe, Dell Rapids PBR.

For Canova, Jason Miller allowed one hit in 1.2 innings while striking out three to earn the victory.

Justin Miller, Jared Miller, Garrett Gassman, Kendall Gassman, Cole Gassman, Kalub Carmichel, and Tim Gassman each collected two hits, combining for five RBIs.

Riley Genzlinger and Jason Miller each tallied a hit, with Miller driving in a run as well.

For KWL, Price allowed eight runs on 10 hits and four walks in 3.1 innings, striking out two.

Lyons tallied five RBIs on three hits, including a homer. Caden Lenz had two hits, while Trent Wookey, Dylan Konechne, Hudson Heath, and Jesse Kroupa each tallied hits in the loss.