Post 131 suffers early exit from state Legion tourney

For the second year in a row, Post 131 baseball has bowed out early at the state Legion baseball tournament.

Brandon Valley lost its first two games in the double-elimination tournament in Rapid City last week, the second year in a row Post 131 has made the early exit, and it comes just months after the same crew won the state high school championship in late May.

Post 131 opened the tournament on Tuesday of last week and dropped a 3-0 decision to Brookings. A day later, the Lynx fell 5-3 to Watertown, sending Brandon Valley packing and heading home back after a disappointing showing.

It’s a perplexing situation for Post 131. After winning the state high school championship, the Lynx were unable to register a win at the Legion tournament.

“It’s tough, for sure. We win the high school title, we work hard, do all the right things and really buy in,” Brandon Valley head coach Jeremy VanHeel said. “And then we come out a little flat in the summer. Could it be the fact that we work so hard and get that emotional high, and then it’s halfway through the season and we have to do it again? I dunno. It’s something as coaches we have to look into and see what we can do differently to keep us locked in.”

In the opener on Tuesday, Brookings’ pitcher Nolan Krogman had Brandon Valley batters stymied throughout. Kroger went the distance and gave up just one hit, a single to Ryder Mueller in the bottom of the fifth.

Krogman also struck out nine Brandon Valley batters.

“He kept us off balance,” VanHeel said of Krogman. “We just couldn’t get our groove going. He threw a good fastball and a good off-speed pitch. We just couldn’t figure it out.”

Against Watertown on Wednesday, the Lynx looked to be in position to advance, leading 3-2 heading into the seventh. But Watertown tied it in the top half, and scored twice in the top of the eighth to secure the come-from-behind win.

The game winner for Watertown might have gone Brandon Valley’s way, but a line drive by Jaxon Falak just reached right field after the ball tipped the top of Bryce Plucker’s outstretched glove at third base. Falak’s hit scored two, and the Lynx were never able to recover.

“Just kind of heartbreaking,” VanHeel said. “He (Plucker) was so close. It just tipped the top of his glove as he reached for it.”

The Lynx finished with five hits in the loss including a triple from Max Peters and doubles each from Plucker and Jack Blomgren.

Pitching was also a problem last week for Brandon Valley, an area that’s been a strong suit this spring and summer. But in their two losses last week, Post 131 pitchers walked 21 batters, including a season-high 11 against Watertown.

“Just too many free passes,” VanHeel said. “But I told the guys that we actually played pretty well. The fact that we were in both games even though we were giving them free bases says something.”

Going back to 2024, the Lynx have now lost six of their last seven games at the Legion tournament. Their last win was a second round 4-1 victory over Sioux Falls East on July 31, 2024, and that one came with some late-game heroics when Peters threw out an East runner at the plate to send things into extra innings.

The Lynx will now regroup and have spring 2027 on their mind as they’ll go for a three-peat in the spring high school season. As for Legion, it’s been a drought for Post 131. Their last state title came in 1996, a Class B crown.

“We’ll definitely be back at it,” VanHeel said.