The Elkhorn Antlers will square off against the Bennington Badgers at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Elkhorn saw some tournament action on Thursday. They fell just short of Hastings by a score of 6-5. The Antlers haven't had much luck with the Tigers recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.
Caiden Severson made the most of his time in the batter's box despite the final result and went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one triple. Bostin Oster was another key player, going 1-for-4 with three RBI.
Meanwhile, Bennington faced Waverly in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Badgers put the hurt on the Vikings with a sharp 12-5 victory. The Badgers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matchups by seven runs or more this season.
Bennington also got a great performance from Brandt Schmidt as he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 11 over six innings pitched. Those 11 strikeouts gave Schmidt a new career-high.
At the plate, Baylor Uhing was excellent, going a perfect 3-for-3 with four RBI, two doubles, and one triple. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabe Nickel, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI.
Bennington was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .405. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Waverly only posted a batting average of .250.
Bennington is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Elkhorn, their loss dropped their record down to 6-11.
Elkhorn beat Bennington 8-5 in their previous meeting back in April of 2025. Will the Antlers repeat their success, or do the Badgers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
