Yankton Pitching Silences Watertown in Doubleheader Sweep
- Steve Jurrens
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Yankton’s pitching staff overpowered Watertown on Sunday, delivering back‑to‑back dominant performances to secure 2–0 and 4–1 victories in a doubleheader matchup.
Game 1: Yankton 2, Watertown 0. Yankton starter Beck Ryken threw a complete‑game shutout, allowing five hits and striking out five. Watertown committed six errors, including two in the second inning that extended the frame and allowed both Yankton runs to score. Sam Gokie, Jackson Kudera, and Gavin Johnson each recorded a hit for the Bucks.
Watertown’s Jackson McClemans turned in a strong outing despite the loss, giving up just two runs on three hits while striking out eight. The Arrows collected hits from Jonathan Lake, Sam Olson, Markus Pitkin, Cole Hansen, and Carter Buisker.
Game 2: Yankton 4, Watertown 1. Yankton continued its momentum in the nightcap as Gokie struck out 10 and held Watertown to one run on three hits. He faced the minimum in four separate innings. Offensively, Yankton produced hits from Ryken, Gokie, Easton Feser, Johnson, Tate Beste, and Steven Hunhoff.
Watertown’s lone run came in the fourth inning when Pitkin led off with a triple and scored on a Jonathan Lake RBI single. Buisker added the only other Arrow hit. Tripp Jorgenson took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings.
“Hats off to Yankton,” Watertown coach Ryan Neale said. “We knew they were a good team and their pitching staff. That was their one‑two from the mound. That’s kind of what we expected with Yankton returning a bunch of guys from last year.”
Neale added that Jorgenson continues to show promise: “Tripp is a guy that we see a lot of upside in. His last two outings, he’s faced Harrisburg and Yankton — two of the probably three or four best teams —, and he’s given us chances to win.”
Up Next Watertown (7–7) closes out the regular season at home next weekend, hosting O’Gorman on Friday and Sioux Falls Washington on Saturday. Both games will stream on Post 17 TV on YouTube.