Sioux Falls Jefferson and Yankton also notch first-round victories
Maxx Sears' sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth lifted Watertown to a first-round win in the state Class A high school baseball tournament.
SIOUX FALLS — The eighth-seeded Watertown Arrows Post 17 team changed the script by knocking off top-seeded Harrisburg in the opening round of the South Dakota High School Baseball Association's state Class A tournament. Facing top-seeded Harrisburg for the second-straight year in the tourney, the Arrows avenged last year's loss by posting a 4-3 win on Friday, May 22, 2026, at Augustana University's Ronken Field. Maxx Sears' sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth plated the winning run in the game for Post 17, which improved to 14-7 with its seventh-straight win.
Post 17 took control early in the game when Cole Hansen hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Markus Pitkin's sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning. Two-out, run-scoring singles by Sam Olson in the third and Jaxon Falak in the fourth gave Watertown a 3-0 lead. Watertown starting pitcher Hunter Halajian blanked Harrisburg, which had swept a doubleheader from Post 17 during the regular season, until the fourth.
The Tigers cut the lead to 3-2 on Treydon Hofer's two-run double. Noah Rutter's two-out single in the bottom of the fifth pulled Harrisburg even at 3-3. Olson, who had two hits, started the top of the sixth with a walk.
He moved to third after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to scored on Sears' flyball to left. Harrisburg tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh when Gavin Weir walked with one out. Jackson McClemans relieved Halajian with two outs and allowed a single to Bryson Esser, which advanced Weir to third.