J.D. Kirchner knew that he needed to step up in a Sasquatch starting rotation that had lost a few notable players in the past couple of weeks.

 So, he did exactly that.

Kirchner tossed an absolute gem on the mound, and the Sasquatch offense did its job, lifting Spearfish over the Casper Horseheads 5-1 on Saturday night.  

While the Sasquatch bats have been improving game after game just in time for the postseason, Kirchner’s performance was easily the biggest takeaway in game two of the series.

Kirchner was efficient all night on the mound, going the distance with eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball to keep the Horseheads off the board. Given an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, he commanded the zone with ease, striking out four Casper hitters throughout his outing.

Kirchner held Casper hitless through five innings until the sixth inning in a play that resulted in an errant throw but was registered as the first hit of the night for the Horseheads. He walked six batters, with the majority of them occurring in the last three innings, but was able to escape trouble each inning to give the Sasquatch bullpen some much-needed rest.

Spearfish reliever Brian Wrenn finished the job in the ninth for the Sasquatch’s fifth win in a row, including their fifth consecutive victory over the Horseheads.

The Sasquatch kept their hot offense rolling, pushing across five runs on seven hits. Just as J.D Kirchner went deep into the contest, so did Casper starting pitcher Roger Reng, who went eight innings and struck out eight Spearfish hitters. However, the Sasquatch were able to tally four runs on six hits early off of Reng, who took the loss.

The Sasquatch scored four runs in the first two innings before Reng settled in, and they held that lead with ease the rest of the night.

Shortstop Gabe Springer had a 3-for-4 night with an RBI, pushing his batting average on the season to .285 after a slow start to the year. Second baseman Ryan Bachman and right fielder Nicky Winterstein each added a hit and a pair of RBIs, as well.

The Sasquatch add another win to the second-half column, improving their record to 13-9, and they aim to complete a series sweep of the Horseheads in an afternoon matchup against Casper on Sunday.