By Jon Akre

605 Sports

BRANDON — The ‘Mators are moving on to the state quarterfinals.

Platte used a six-run fourth inning to take care of Pony Hills foe Four Corners, 12-1, in a seven-inning mercy rule to advance to Friday’s Class B state quarterfinals at First National Bank Field at Aspen Park in Brandon.

“We played as a team,” said third baseman Grant Doom. “We’ve been hitting the ball a lot lately which has been huge. Get runs in as many innings as you can to keep the momentum going, keep the momentum out of their hands and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Similar to its 12-3 first-round win over Redfield, The Killer Tomatoes (14-7) got the scoring going early on back-to-back RBI walks from Richard Sternberg and Cole Knippling (Dimock/Emery pick-up player) to establish an early 2-0 lead.

“Like the last game where we scored early and often, we scored two right away so that got the momentum going,” said Platte manager Todd Strand. “It’s a scrappy team, Four Corners, and hats off to them.”

Four Corners (16-4) plated its first and only run of the game on an RBI single from River Iverson in the second before the flood gates opened for Platte.

PHOTOS: The @PlatteKTs advance to the quarterfinals with a 12-1 win over @4CBaseball24 in seven innings Tuesday in the 93rd annual @SDAmateur Baseball Tournament in Brandon. (Photos by Ryan Deal / 605 Sports) - https://t.co/XOX7uSdtsM

&; 605 Sports (@605_sports) August 13, 2025

After a fourth inning lead-off walk and hit batsmen from Michael Buitenbos and Spencer Neugebauer, respectively, Doom roped a double to right field scoring both baserunners to increase the ‘Mator lead to three. Two batters late, Preston Nedved blasted a no-doubt three-run home run to left field to keep momentum with the Tomatoes. 

A Dawson Hoffman sac-fly scored another run, capping off the six-run frame.

“The big thing is ‘Next guy up,’ ” said Doom of the six-run inning. “My double is one thing, it just gets Hunter (Hewitt) up. It gets the 3-hole up, it gets the 4-hole up with guys on base, and that’s what you need to do in baseball.”

With a commanding 8-1 lead, Platte’s starting pitcher Travis Gant was able to settle in and limit the 4C offense. The veteran Gant allowed just one run on five hits and two walks in seven innings, striking out eight in the winning effort.

“Good outing by Travis, that’s exactly what we needed out of him tonight,” Strand said. “Short game obviously, that’ll help. That was a big momentum booster because we didn’t have to waste anybody.”

Hayden Kuiper plated another run for the Tomatoes in the fifth just before Nedved pieced up another longball to left field for his second three-run blast of the game in the sixth inning. Nedved finished batting 2-for-4 with two homers, a walk, and six RBIs in the win.

“That second one was actually right off my hands, I really didn’t think it was out,” said Nedved, who earned Player of the Game honors. “In my head I was like ‘At least I can advance the runner,’ and it honestly just carried out.”

After scoring 12 runs in the opening round, the Platte offense continued to roll in Round 2 with 12 more runs to carry that momentum into the next round.

“I think everybody is just coming together,” Doom said. “It’s a little bit of everybody every game.”

Platte now faces Castlewood in the state quarterfinals at 5:30 Friday in another matchup with an unfamiliar opponent for the Killer Tomatoes.

“They’ve got a couple pitchers left the way it sounds and hopefully we can stay on the hitting. I told the guys ‘We score 12 more runs again in this game, odds are we’re going to be on the top end of it’.”

Iverson tallied the lone RBI on one hit for 4C while Sam Hand, Garrett Stout, Jeremy Hand and Brad Hand each had a hit. Austin Hand took the loss, allowing seven runs on three hits and seven walks in three innings, striking out two.

For Platte, Doom had a double, walk and two RBIs, Kuiper and Knippling each collected an RBI on two hits and a walk, Hoffman tallied an RBI on a walk while Hewitt added two walks and a hit in the win.