MITCHELL — Saturday’s amateur baseball game between Larchwood, Iowa, and Volga started at Cadwell Park and finished up at Drake Field. 

Due to a rain delay, the Diamonds and Cormorants played a marathon game that featured a two-hour delay, a venue change and an extra-inning walk-off hit. 

“It was a little bit of a marathon,” said Cody Groskruetz, whose walk-off double lifted Larchwood to a 3-2 10th-inning win over Volga. “But it was quite the battle of a game and it kind of gave us some new life having the delay.”

The game was humming along, but heavy rains in Mitchell forced a two-hour and 19-minute delay. The contest started around 2 p.m. at Cadwell Park and was delayed at the top of the sixth inning. It was moved to the adjacent Drake Field, a turf infield, as the grounds crew worked on Cadwell Park for the following game. 

“I am not going to lie, a two-hour rain delay is something I’ve never done before and switching fields, too,” Volga player Zack Puetz said. “That’s a crazy thing. You are playing at Cadwell. You have an ocean of an outfield and you come to Drake. For me, I played at Wesleyan for a few years so it’s just like coming home to another field, but you could tell the vibe changed.”

Volga's Parker Puetz delivers a pitch against Larchwood, Iowa, on Saturday at Cadwell Park. (Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)

Volga was clinging to a 2-1 lead when the delay hit. It impacted starting pitchers as Volga’s Parker Puetz and Larchwood’s Isaac Horigan were both pulled after the delay.

Puetz — Zack’s brother and a future North Dakota State pitcher — struck out six batters, allowed three hits and one earned run through five innings on 68 pitches. 

“He was pitching a great game and that delay hits and it’s really hard for a starting pitcher to stay loose for two hours,” said Zack Puetz, who finished with two hits. “We knew that if it wasn’t going to be a half-hour delay, we knew that we were going to have to make a pitching change. 

Groskruetz admitted the delay and pitching change came at the right time. 

“He had some good velocity on his pitches and was hitting the outside edge pretty good,” Groskruetz said. “Our starting pitcher came out, too, but I think it definitely gave us a lift to see a new arm.” 

Horigan lasted 5.2 innings, giving up two unearned runs, three hits, four walks and struck out nine batters. 

Volga’s Nicolai Arbach came on in relief for Parker Puetz. Arbach allowed five hits, two earned runs, three walks and struck out three batters in four relief innings.

Cadwell Park grounds crew work on the field on Saturday. (Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)
  

In the eighth inning, Mitch Peschon hit an RBI single to even the score at 2-2. In the 10th inning, Micah Linn hit a lead-off double to right field and Groskruetz’s walk-off single to deep center finished the marathon game, which finished up around 6:20 p.m.

“I started out going for a bunt,” Groskruetz said about the walk-off hit. “I wanted to get him 90-feet closer. It went foul. I was like I am a good hitter. I am going to hit him in and that’s what I did. It was a fun way to win it.”

The Diamonds will play the Dell Rapids Mudcats at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Cadwell Park. 

It concluded the season for Volga, which finished 9-5 in the Eastern Dakota League and played in the district championship for the first time. 

“It was a great year for us,” Zack Puetz said. “We played really good baseball. It sucks that you had to lose in Mitchell, but it’s a great place. … Otherwise, all and all it was a great year for us.”