RAPID CITY - Rapid City Post 22 avenged an earlier defeat at the hands of Mitchell Post 18 with a convincing 7-2 win during the Dr. James "Pev" Evans Tournament at Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday night.

"It was a good improvement for us over last time," Rapid City head coach Dave Ploof said. "We're starting to play a little better. We got some hits with runners on, and are playing the game the way it's supposed to be played."

Mitchell played a doubleheader on Saturday, losing to Bozeman, Mont., 4-2 before taking on Post 22.

"I thought we played pretty well against Bozeman," Mitchell head coach Luke Norden said. "We just didn't hit very well. We left a lot of guys on base."

Rapid City didn't have the same problem in their game against the Kernels. The hardhats put four runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Mitchell registered

two outs. Rapid City scored six runs during the game when the Kernels had two outs.

"Our starting pitcher had a little trouble hitting his spots," Norden said. "They (Post 22) aren't a team that's going to extra base hit you to death, but they will hit it on a line. They make you work for it, but if our pitcher could have gotten off to a little better start, who knows? We need to start to bear down when we get two outs and get out of those innings."

After Mitchell scored two runs in the top of the second, Post 22 starter Jarrett Jensen really settled into a groove. Jensen allowed just five hits and the two runs while striking out six and walking one in his seven innings of work.

"It all starts with pitching," Ploof said. "Jarrett Jensen really performed well. He pitched ahead and competed tough for us tonight. He's really improving in every aspect."

The aspect that really came alive for Rapid City was hitting, though, as the hardhats racked up 12 hits - 10 of which came off Mitchell starter Brett Young. Sam Wolff had a nice game, going 3-for-3 with a two runs scored and two batted in, while catcher Dana Hill went 2-for-4 with a run scored and another batted in. No other player for Post 22 had multiple hits, but every starter did get one.

"We came out swinging the bats," Ploof said. "We hit it hard and we hit it often up and down the lineup. Hitting's contagious and we're just hoping that we can keep it going."

The game was over when …

It wasn't necessarily over, but Rapid City's four-run, two-out rally in the bottom of the first knocked the visitors onto their heels and gave the home team a nice boost of confidence.

Saturday's MVP …

Wolff went 3-for-3 and came up with some timely hitting for Rapid City. Jensen was also very solid on the mound.

On deck …

Rapid City (26-27) will play Minot at 7:30 p.m.

"Minot is an outstanding ball club," Ploof said. "We're going to see one of their top pitchers and it is going to be a very good test for us."