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HARRISBURG — Kade Wede had some of his best stuff working on Thursday, April 16, mixing his three pitches often in a dominant showing and a 7-3 win over Sioux Falls Jefferson.
Wede's fastball was buzzing by guys and drawing some uncomfortable swings, his cutter was a magnet for weak contact and foul balls and his slider was buckling knees and punching tickets. That led to a six-inning performance with 13 strikeouts while allowing five hits, a hit batter and one earned run.
"I was getting good swing and misses as well as rollovers," Wede said. "I was trying to keep the ball down, really allowing my defense to work. Pitches were executed and I was putting it in the zone, allowing them to try and put swings on it."
Wede was able to mix up his sequencing, sometimes working with the traditional hard then soft to get batters out and other times starting with his breaking balls to finish guys off with his fastball.
No matter how he did it, the fastball was just too much for most Jefferson hitters. The junior righty went to it frequently and was able to command it most of the day.
"I would say it's my two pitch because I have a lot of confidence in my cutter, but I throw it pretty hard so I would say that's a hard pitch for a lot of hitters to hit in South Dakota," Wede said. "I rely on that and I have a lot of confidence in it."
Harrisburg head coach Tony Lanier felt Wede was near his best, and his workhorse delivered just another dominant outing. His biggest worry when Wede toes the rubber is simply if he's able to harness the stuff on a daily basis.
"He's going to eat the bulk of our innings and go out and compete is all I can tell him," Lanier said. "He's got the stuff, he's just got to trust it. There was obviously a lot of stuff today in all of his pitches."
Wede's reliability is big for a Harrisburg team that has won five games in a row after an 0-4 start while playing in Kansas. His ability to hold down even the best offenses allows the Tigers' hitters to be freed up to make reads on the opposing starter and put together quality at bats.
"The way they're going right now, we can trust anybody, not just Wede, to be out there on the mound," Lanier said. "The offense is going to be there to pick us up. We stick with our approaches and hit balls hard."
Bryson Esser took full advantage of being freed up, breaking out with a pair of home runs on the day. Esser bounces in and out of the lineup and done too much damage at the dish yet in 2026, but the 6-foot-1 sophomore made a major impact against Jefferson.
"I'm just looking to get the barrel to the ball for line drives and whatever happens, happens," Esser said. "If it goes out, it goes out. With that wind blowing out, just put it in the air and it'll go."
Both homers were pulled, and resulted in a four-RBI day. Lanier was happy to see Esser finally put together the quality at bats needed to get into his big-time power.
The explosion also may have earned him some more consistent playing time.
"After he's looking like that, it's always a fun thing to see," Lanier said. "He sits on an off-speed pitch and finds one over the fence. It's just really cool to see."
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Kade Wede strikes out 13, Harrisburg baseball beats Jefferson 7-3
Continue reading...
Wede's fastball was buzzing by guys and drawing some uncomfortable swings, his cutter was a magnet for weak contact and foul balls and his slider was buckling knees and punching tickets. That led to a six-inning performance with 13 strikeouts while allowing five hits, a hit batter and one earned run.
"I was getting good swing and misses as well as rollovers," Wede said. "I was trying to keep the ball down, really allowing my defense to work. Pitches were executed and I was putting it in the zone, allowing them to try and put swings on it."
Wede was able to mix up his sequencing, sometimes working with the traditional hard then soft to get batters out and other times starting with his breaking balls to finish guys off with his fastball.
No matter how he did it, the fastball was just too much for most Jefferson hitters. The junior righty went to it frequently and was able to command it most of the day.
"I would say it's my two pitch because I have a lot of confidence in my cutter, but I throw it pretty hard so I would say that's a hard pitch for a lot of hitters to hit in South Dakota," Wede said. "I rely on that and I have a lot of confidence in it."
Harrisburg head coach Tony Lanier felt Wede was near his best, and his workhorse delivered just another dominant outing. His biggest worry when Wede toes the rubber is simply if he's able to harness the stuff on a daily basis.
"He's going to eat the bulk of our innings and go out and compete is all I can tell him," Lanier said. "He's got the stuff, he's just got to trust it. There was obviously a lot of stuff today in all of his pitches."
Wede's reliability is big for a Harrisburg team that has won five games in a row after an 0-4 start while playing in Kansas. His ability to hold down even the best offenses allows the Tigers' hitters to be freed up to make reads on the opposing starter and put together quality at bats.
"The way they're going right now, we can trust anybody, not just Wede, to be out there on the mound," Lanier said. "The offense is going to be there to pick us up. We stick with our approaches and hit balls hard."
Bryson Esser took full advantage of being freed up, breaking out with a pair of home runs on the day. Esser bounces in and out of the lineup and done too much damage at the dish yet in 2026, but the 6-foot-1 sophomore made a major impact against Jefferson.
"I'm just looking to get the barrel to the ball for line drives and whatever happens, happens," Esser said. "If it goes out, it goes out. With that wind blowing out, just put it in the air and it'll go."
Both homers were pulled, and resulted in a four-RBI day. Lanier was happy to see Esser finally put together the quality at bats needed to get into his big-time power.
The explosion also may have earned him some more consistent playing time.
"After he's looking like that, it's always a fun thing to see," Lanier said. "He sits on an off-speed pitch and finds one over the fence. It's just really cool to see."
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Kade Wede strikes out 13, Harrisburg baseball beats Jefferson 7-3
Continue reading...
