BRANDON — The cardiac ‘Cats survive and advance in the state tournament.

Dell Rapids Mudcats avoided an upset bid from the Freeman Blacksox thanks to a late comeback, pulling away in the 10th inning for a 15-10 victory in the second round of the Class B state tournament.

The Mudcats went into the final inning of their second-round action with Freeman down 10-5, with their season coming down to its final three outs. It was a game DR had no business winning.

But as the clock struck midnight at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park, the tying run came across the plate to force the bottom of the ninth on the Blacksox.

“I said ‘Hey, this is amateur baseball. They got to make the outs,’ ” Dell Rapids Mudcat manager Travis Peters said. “It’s always hard to get those last three outs. So the message was ‘Next guy up,’ see what happens, and obviously a big ninth inning starting with Caden (Alfson) delivering the bomb and I think that really got us going.”

The five-run ninth inning was sparked by Alfson, a Hartford/Humboldt Wood Duck pick-up player. After back-to-back singles from Austin Henry and Jake Goble, Alfson blasted a three-run homer over the 315-foot sign in left field.

“I was just hoping that thing was going to stay fair, but once I saw it stayed fair I was feeling good,” Alfson said. “Just onto the next.”

Chad Hunt and Drake Eastman continued the ninth-inning rally with consecutive walks before Freeman pitcher Evan Scharberg came in to record back-to-back outs. Ty Hoglund hit a clutch RBI single to cut the lead to one with the tying run on third base. One pitch later, Eastman scored on a wild pitch to tie it at 10.

Dell Rapids Mudcats Chad Hunt celebrates with his teammates after scoring a run in the top of the 10th inning against the Freeman Black Sox during the second round of the 2025 South Dakota State Amateur Baseball Tournament Wednesday, August 13, 2025 in Brandon. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

“We’ve seen crazier things,” Alfson said on the message going into the ninth. “Keep grinding, keep grinding and next at-bat. And that’s what happened.”

It was a brand new ballgame on a brand new day as the game seeped into the early Thursday morning, and the momentum was now with the Mudcats. In the bottom of the ninth, the Blacksox got one runner on base before Goble retired the final two batters of the inning in relief. 

“They are just a really good baseball team,” Peters said of Freeman. “They hit it really well and they certainly put the ball in play. We just knew we had to stick with it. I really wasn’t worried until we got a little bit later into the game. I knew as long as we kept it close, we’d give ourselves a good chance to win.”

In the 10th, it was all Mudcats thanks to more heroics from Alfson. Henry got the inning started reaching on a dropped third strike before Alfson drove him in on an RBI double two batters later to take the lead. Alfson, who batted 3-for-6 with a double, homer, and five RBIs, won the game’s Player of the Game award as well.

“He’s just such a good athlete, such a good baseball player,” said Peters on Alfson. “We kind of had our eye on him the whole time so we kind of knew what we were getting with Caden. But it’s hard to be a pick-up player so for him to really step up like that in those big moments, just really unbelievable. We’re fortunate to have him.”

After Alfson’s fifth RBI of the game, four of the next five Mudcat batters would drive in runs. Chad Hunt, Eastman, Grant Olson and Hoglund each put a ball in play to cap off a second straight five-run inning. Momentum was fully with the cardiac ‘Cats before Goble closed it out in the ninth just before 1 a.m. in Brandon.

“We just realized that we needed to get going,” said Alfson on the comeback win. “We’ve been saying the whole time that it’s a lot of game left, then we realized we got to go and we did.”

The Mudcats got the scoring going in the first inning plating two runs on an Alfson RBI groundout and a single from Hunt, before Freeman threw its first punches in the following innings.

Blacksox clean-up hitter Bailey Sage pieced up a three-run homer that hit off the top of the scoreboard in left-center while Trey Ortman scored two more runs on an RBI single in the third inning.

“They were playing like a team with nothing to lose,” said Peters of Freeman. “I didn’t think we played tight, I thought we played good too. Definitely early on, between the dugout and the crowd they definitely had a lot of energy and so we just needed to stay in the game, keep putting pressure on and making the plays. I just knew if we hung in there, anything could happen.”

That energy was slowly sucked out from the Freeman faithful in the later innings as Henry got a hold of a two-run homer of his own, cutting the lead to one run in the fifth inning. Henry, who batted 3-for-5 with a homer, walk and three RBIs, later tied it in the seventh on a sac-fly as well.

Dell Rapids Mudcats Austin Henry scores the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning against the Freeman Black Sox during the second round of the 2025 South Dakota State Amateur Baseball Tournament Wednesday, August 13, 2025 in Brandon. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

“I’ve seen him all the way since high school and he’s been a dog,” Alfson mentioned of Henry. “He’s grinding through injuries  and he does it for the team. He’s a great player.”

Freeman would plate five runs in the seventh and eighth innings for its largest lead of the game until the ninth when the Blacksox ran out of gas.

Hunt and Hoglund each drove in two runs on two hits for the Mudcats, Eastman added two hits, a walk and an RBI, Olson drove in a run on one walk while Carter Gullickson had a double and two walks in the win. Goble took the win on the mound in 1.2 innings of relief, recording three strikeouts.

For Freeman, Sage drove in three runs on two hits, a homer and a walk, Trey Ortman had three RBIs on a hit and a walk, Scharberg recorded two RBIs on a hit and a walk, Jackson Fiegen drove in a run on three hits while Jake Weier and Avery Mellman each had hits. Scharberg took the loss for the Blacksox, allowing five runs on five in 1.1 innings, striking out three.

Freeman Black Sox Trey Ortman scores a run in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Dell Rapids Mudcats during the second round of the 2025 South Dakota State Amateur Baseball Tournament Wednesday, August 13, 2025 in Brandon. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

The Blacksox gave Dell Rapids a run for its money in the second-round, but ultimately it was the Mudcats that came out on top in a gritty win Thursday morning.

“I think we’re playing now with nothing to lose,” Peters said. “We’re going to show up on Friday and give them a good shot. That’s just the nature of this tournament. It’s late nights and it’s over in a flash so we’ll be ready to play for sure.”

The Dell Rapids Mudcats face the Humboldt-Hartford Gamecocks Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the state quarterfinals.