HURON – The Aberdeen Smittys won their fourth straight game, before Huron came up with a pitching gem to snap that streak in an American Legion baseball twinbill on Saturday.

The Smittys won the opener 8-4 before being blanked 2-0 in the nightcap.

“I thought we pitched really well all day long,” said Smittys coach Brandon Kusler. “In game one, Josh Steinwandt gave us a chance to win, going 4+ strong innings on the bump. I’m really proud of the way he competed. Brian Holmstrom was solid in relief and finished the job for us.”

Aberdeen pulled away from a tight game to win the first contest. The Smittys grabbed an early lead on a sacrifice fly by Jaiden Smith in the top of the first inning, but Huron matched it with a run in the bottom half of the frame.

Aberdeen regained the lead in the top of the second inning, scoring on back-to-back passed balls, but Huron responded with three runs in the bottom of the second.

The Smittys surged back in front with two more runs in the top of the third for a 5-4 lead. Phillip Zens and Josh Steinwandt each drove in runs.

Aberdeen finally took control in the fifth when Nick Clemens delivered a two-out bases-loaded hit to knock in three and push the margin to 8-4.

“Offensively, we had some guys come through for us with some clutch hits with runners in scoring position,” Kusler said.

Zens, Clemens and Brock Martin each had two hits in the victory.

The Smittys found hits and runs hard to come by in the second contest as Dawson Rogers allowed just four hits total, two of them to Clemens.

Rogers struck out eight batters and helped his own cause with an RBI double in the first inning. He also had three hits for Huron in the opener.

Drew Salfrank allowed only three hits in going the distance for the Smittys on the mound, but could not get any run support.

“In game two we seemed to just kind of hit a wall offensively. Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap to the opposing pitcher and Rogers kept our guys off balance all game and pitched extremely well,” Kusler said. “On our side, Drew Salfrank pitched his butt off and we can’t really ask for much more from him.”

As a result, the Smittys slipped to 10-8 on the season heading into games Monday night in Groton before hosting Jamestown on Wednesday and playing at Mitchell on Friday.

“Frustrating game to say the least,” Kusler said of the shutout, “but we’ve gotta turn the page and look forward to our games this coming week.”

Aberdeen Smittys 122 030 0 – 8 10 2

Huron 130 000 0 – 4 9 3

Josh Steinwandt, Brian Holmstrom (5) and Andrew Woehl; Mason Davis, Kranzler (5) and Tyson Lien. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Brock Martin, Steinwandt.

Aberdeen 000 000 0 – 0 4 0

Huron 100 100 x – 2 3 0

Drew Salfrank and Andrew Richardson; Dawson Rogers and Tyson Lien. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Casey Vining; Huron, Rogers, Kranzler.