MITCHELL — Garretson relied on the arm of Nick Bonte and enough offense to return to the Class B semifinals. 

The Blue Jays held off perennial power Winner/Colome, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the Class B state amateur baseball tournament on Friday at Cadwell Park. Garretson will now play Dell Rapids PBR in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. 

Against Winner/Colome, Garretson received eight strong innings from Bonte, who struck out nine batters, scattered seven hits, allowed one earned run and walked five batters on 145 pitches. 

“Our bats were going right away,” Bonte said. “So we had a pretty good cushion. So I just tried to throw strikes. That was about it.”

Garretson spotted Bonte a 5-0 lead after five runs in the top of the second inning. In the second inning, Tayson Swatek and Robin Chute knocked in runs to highlight the five-run frame. 

“It gave us confidence,” Garretson player/manager Austin Vanhove said about the start. “We think we are a good-hitting team. A lot of games we don't hit the ball, but tonight we kind of showed we can hit the ball. So I think that gave us a lot of confidence and then obviously it made Nick calm down a lot, too.” 

Winner/Colome starter JJ Farner was relieved after allowing four hits, four earned runs, two walks and struck out one batter in two innings. 

Farner was relieved by Connor Hopkins, who struck out five batters, allowed seven hits, one earned run and walked zero batters on 91 pitches in seven innings. 

But the Pheasants left multiple runners stranded on base and the usually high-powered Winner/Colome offense was limited to seven hits. 

Things got dicey in the late innings for Garretson. In the eighth inning, the Pheasants were trailing 6-2 and they loaded the bases as Derek Graesser stepped to the plate with two outs. But Graesser went down swinging for the final out. 

“Everyone was making plays,” Bonte said. “We are kind of used to it. I am kind of wild. I always get in those situations. We buckled down and made plays.”

In the ninth inning, Drew DeMers walked and Reed Harter ripped a single into center field to lead off the inning. Garretson’s Dustin Steckler, who closed the previous game against Four Corners, relieved Bonte with zero outs. 

Bonte struck out Chandler Bakley and Aiden Barfuss in back-to-back at-bats. After DeMers scored on a fielding error after Dillon Lambley hit a fly ball to right field, Austin Richey went down swinging for the final out.

Vanhove, who was on the edge of the dugout, admitted afterward he was nervous in the final two innings. Especially because earlier in the tournament Dimock-Emery and Platte both rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning for walk-off wins. 

“I was very nervous just because we’ve already seen two games that have been lost in the ninth inning,” Vanhove said. “We didn’t want to see another repeat. I think we played well enough to win that game. It would have been a disappointing loss.”

Harter led Winner/Colome with four hits. Graesser, Barfuss and Austin Calhoon added hits. 

Vanhove finished 3-for-4, while Chute had two hits and drove in two runs. 

Up next, Garretson will face Dell Rapids PBR, which beat Cornbelt League foe Canova in the other semifinal game. 

“PBR is a great team,” Vanhove said. “They beat a really great team tonight. Canova is an awesome team. So I know PBR is going to be a hassle and they are going to be really tough to beat. So we are going to have to play well to beat them.”