The Aberdeen Smittys, known for their high-powered offense, turned to their pitching and defense to secure a pair of victories on Friday afternoon.

The Smittys defeated Spearfish 1-0 and 5-3 in American Legion baseball action at Fossum Field.

Grant Beyer tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout in the opener.

“That 1-0, that’s just Grant Beyer going out there and throwing a lot of strikes,” said Smittys coach Nathan Gonnelly. “He gave up two hits and threw 65 pitches. When you get a guy who can go out there and start a game like that, it’s going to be pretty good.”

One of the biggest plays in the contest occurred in the top of the first inning. Spearfish had runners on second and third, and attempted to score on a fly ball to centerfield. However, Drew Salfrank threw a strike to Talan Dutenhoeffer who tagged out the approaching runner for the third out of the frame.

“That definitely set the whole tone,” Dutenhoeffer said. “Drew with a perfect throw. I got a little nervous when I saw it going up the line, but I looked over and (the runner) wasn’t too close, so I just did whatever I could to dive and make the tag down. But that was an amazing throw by Drew.”

From there, Beyer did not allow a single hit the rest of the way.

“The ball felt good,” Beyer said. “I had good location. It was just working.”

Beyer said his fastball was the key to his outing as his struck out four batters and did not allow a single walk.

“I was able to locate it pretty well, elevate it when I needed it,” Beyer of his fastball, “and then change up to kind of mix it up a little bit.”

Of course, he was appreciative of that first-inning play at the plate and a few more throughout the contest.

“That throw-out in the first inning, that was big, because that could have changed the tempo of the game a little bit,” Beyer said, “so that was really good, and then some good plays in the infield there.”

Dutenhoeffer for one was impressed by Beyer’s control on the mound, which made his job much easier behind the play.

“He pounded the zone. I didn’t have to block one baseball and it’s nice for that. It’s relaxing for me,” Dutenhoeffer said. “He was letting them hit it and our defense was just making great plays behind him.”

The Smittys produced the only run in the bottom of the sixth when Drew Salfrank singled, got in scoring position and scored on a hit by Cooper Eisenbeisz.

Aberdeen iced the win in the top of the seventh, thanks in part to the defense of third baseman Casey Vining who threw out one runner and then snagged a line drive for the final out of the contest.

Spearfish wasted no time jumping in front in the second game, scoring three runs in the top of the first. However, that would be the only runs the visitors would score in the 14 innings of the twinbill.

The Smittys got one run back in the first, and then plated four runs in the fourth inning. Vining doubled in one run, Brendan Livermont put Aberdeen in front with a two-run single, and Dutenhoeffer provided an insurance run with and RBI single.

“I’ve been kind of struggling up at the plate,” Dutenhoeffer said, “so that was nice to get the confidence up.”

While Aberdeen finished with three errors in the game, the Smittys also made some quality plays in the field.

“There was a couple of times where we made some errors, but the biggest thing is, is those guys didn’t hit the panic button,” Gonnelly said. “OK, we made a mistake, we’re going to live with it, we’re going to keep on moving on. That just shows the character of this team.”

The twinbill marked the final regular-season home games for the Smittys. Aberdeen 30-17, now has pivotal games at Harrisburg Gold on Sunday and at Brandon Valley on Monday.

Gonnelly noted that Aberdeen has not locked up home-field advantage yet for next week’s region competition. While the Smittys are currently sitting the position to host a playoff series, the team chasing them is Brandon Valley, making Monday’s game even more meaningful.

“Those are going to be some big games against BV,” Gonnelly said. “We’re excited.”

Spearfish 000 000 0 – 0 2 0

Aberdeen Smittys 000 001 x – 1 5 1

Jack Branum and Owen Bruner; Grant Beyer and Talan Dutenhoeffer.

Spearfish 300 000 0 – 3 6 2

Aberdeen Smittys 100 400 x – 5 8 3

Cody Chadman and Owen Bruner; Lance Siefken, Jackson Welke (4) and Talan Dutenhoeffer. 2B – Aberdeen Smittys, Casey Vining.