MITCHELL – The Harrisburg Hops eliminated the Aberdeen Circus Sports Bar & Grill 4-2 during action in the Class A State Amateur Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon at Drake Field.

Bryce Ahrendt scattered six hits over nine innings and struck out seven to lead Harrisburg, whose squad is mainly comprised of former Sioux Falls Brewers players who won the past two Class A state championships.

Ahrendt got all the runs he needed when the Hops scored three times in the bottom of the third inning. Two of the runs came in on a Gabe Leon single. Harrisburg extended the lead to four runs when Leon pushed another runner across home plate on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

Circus eventually cut the deficit in half with single runs in both the seventh and eighth frames. Dalton Cox drove in Joey Wollman in the seventh, before Zane Hunt doubled and later came in to score on a ground out in the eighth.

Aberdeen had the tying run at the plate in the ninth, but Ahrendt – who struck out the first batter in the inning -slammed the door shut with two more strikeouts to end the contest and the Circus season.

Chad Ellingson, Hunt, Michael Babcock, Spencer Sudbeck, Tyler Newman and Cox each had a hit for Circus, which finished the year at 15-2.

Mike Stubbs struck out seven batters in seven innings of pitching for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Circus 000 000 110 – 2 6  1

Harrisburg Hops 030 001 00x – 4 6 1

Mike Stubbs, Chad Ellingson (8); Bryce Ahrendt. 2B – Aberdeen Circus, Zane Hunt.