YANKTON – A pair of rough innings proved to be too much for the Aberdeen Smittys to overcome in a 6-3 setback to Harrisburg Gold in the opening round of the State A American Legion Baseball Tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Harrisburg scored three runs in both the first and fifth innings to fuel the victory.

“I thought the boys competed really well today,” said Smittys coach Brandon Kusler. “There were a lot of little plays here and there that just didn’t go our way. Give Harrisburg a lot of credit for capitalizing on our mistakes, and we struggled to come through with guys on base; that was the difference.”

Aberdeen threatened to strike first, putting runners on second and third base with one out in the top of the first inning. However, Harrisburg starter Eli Kokenge was able to get out of the jam.

Harrisburg then had the same situation in the bottom half of the frame with runners on second and third. That’s when Noah Boschee stepped up and delivered a three-run home run over the left field fence.

The score remained 3-0 until the fifth when the Smittys broke through for a pair of runs. Drew Salfrank and Zane Backous had back-to-back singles, and scored on Jaiden Smith’s two-run single to close the score to 3-2.

However, Harrisburg struck back with three runs in the bottom half of the fifth to extend its lead to four. Aberdeen’s defense had a pair of costly errors, Boschee brought in a run with a single, and Tate Larson doubled in another.

The Smittys put a pair of runners on base in the top of the seventh, but were unable to inch any closer.

Both squads finished with seven hits in the contest. Backous struck out four batters and allowed just one walk in 4 2/3 innnings of work.

“I thought Zane competed well on the mound,” Kusler said. “After giving up the home run in the first, he really settled in and pitched well against a tough lineup and gave us a chance to win. He also helped himself on the mound with four hits offensively.”

Kokenge struck out seven batters before giving way to Boschee for the last couple of innings.

“Kokenge threw very well for Harrisburg. He’s been good for them all year, and I think our guys handled him pretty well,” Kusler said. “We hit some balls really hard and got guys on base; just struggled to come through with that big hit until Smith’s two-RBI single in the fifth to cut the deficit. Credit to Harrisburg for answering in the bottom of the fifth.”

Boschee, Jack Riley and Tate Larson each finished with two hits for Harrisburg.

Backous went 4-for-4 for the Smittys, while Drew Salfrank added a pair of hits.

The Smittys, 27-17 on the season, take on Renner in an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. today.

“We just have to move on and respond (Wednesday) like we’ve done all season,” Kusler said. “We didn’t play bad baseball today. They just did a few more things right than we did. We just have to clean a few things up and come ready to compete.”

Aberdeen Smittys 000 020 0 – 2 7 3

Harrisburg Gold 300 030 x – 6 7 2

Zane Backous, Cooper Eisenbeisz (5) and Andrew Woehl, Andrew Ristau-Richardson (5); Eli Kokenge, Noah Boschee (6) and M. Carlson. 2B – Harrisburg Gold, Tate Larson, M. Scherer. HR – Harrisburg Gold, Boschee.