Vistas seize momentum to top Riders
MINOT — It took one inning for the Dickinson Roughriders to grab momentum. It took just one more inning for the Minot Vistas to take it back.By: Chris Bieri, Minot Daily News
- Cole Frenzel
MINOT — It took one inning for the Dickinson Roughriders to grab momentum. It took just one more inning for the Minot Vistas to take it back.
Dickinson took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but the Vistas rallied back with four runs in the top of the second to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Vistas starter Clay Kallias overcame a bumpy start as second-seeded Minot beat the top-seeded Roughriders 8-5 at the Class A State Seeding Tournament Thursday at Corbett Field.
“After that first innings, we settled in,” Vistas head coach Todd Larson said. “Our defense was really good. Offensively, we battled. We put a lot of balls in play.”
In the early going, Kallias struggled with his command. He walked the first two batters and after an error on a ball hit by Dickinson’s Cole Frenzel, Kallias hit the next batter before giving up a hit to Tyler Steffan.
“Definitely, the first inning was rough,” Kallias said. “I couldn’t find the zone. Everything was high and when I made an adjustment, I was just missing. I was struggling, but I hung in there and the guys made plays (defensively). That gave me a lot of confidence and gave us some momentum. It was awesome.”
Trailing 3-0, the Vistas got to Dickinson starter Eric Seiler for four runs in the top of the second.
Cole Krueger, Daniel Himmerick, Ryan Bollinger and Jordan Rubbelke provided four consecutive run-scoring singles to chase Seiler from the game.
“The second inning really changed the complexion of the game,” Dickinson coach Andy Emard said. “We turned an inning that wasn’t that big into one that was because we didn’t make all the routine plays. I don’t think we played that bad or pitched that bad.”
Kallias retired the side in order in the second, fourth and sixth innings, each time against the bottom half of the Dickinson order.
“Clay threw a lot of strikes early in the count,” Larson said. “He did great on the hill. He battled for six innings against an awesome offensive team.”
Minot stretched its lead to 5-3 in the fourth when Bollinger blasted an opposite field home run to the left-center gap.
The Vistas added an unearned run in the next inning when Ben Kramer came home on a Dickinson error on a ball hit by Krueger.
Dickinson got right back into the game in the bottom of the fifth with the help of its big boppers. Frenzel blasted a shot into the trees behind the right field fence — his 23rd of the season — to cut the Minot lead to 6-4. Roughriders first baseman and clean-up hitter Ben Herauf followed with an equally as titanic of a blast to left field to make it 6-5.
The Vistas replied with a pair of back-to-back homers of their own from ironically, the Nos. 3 and 4 batters in their order, in the top of the sixth. Bollinger mashed one to centerfield just right of straightaway and Rubbelke followed with a homer to left center.
Bollinger relieved Kallias in the seventh and got two outs before allowing a hit to Stephen Laylock. He struck out Frenzel to end the game.
The game was the second in a row for the Roughriders, who beat Williston 20-8.
“It’s my job to keep us focused,” Emard said. “We played hard, but we lacked a lot of focus, so I’ll take the hit for that.”
Minot 040 112 0 — 8 12 1
Dickinson 300 020 0 — 5 6 1
W–Clay Kallias. L–Eric Seiler. HR–Minot, Ryan Bollinger 2, Jordan Rubbelke. Dickinson, Cole Frenzel (23), Ben Herauf.
Highlights: School, Name, highlights
Records: Minot, Ryan Bollinger 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Jordan Rubbelke 2-for-2, 2 RBI; Alex Fornshell 2-for-3. Dickinson, Stephen Laylock 2-for-3, run; Cole Frenzel 1-for-4, 2 runs.
Dickinson 20, Williston 8
Not only did Dickinson score in six out of seven innings, the Roughriders didn’t settle for just one run an inning.
Dickinson scored at least four runs in four innings to topple the Keybirds.
After falling behind 3-1 after two innings, the Roughriders scored four runs in the third and fourth innings and added five more in the fifth.
Stephen Laylock got the win on the hill for Dickinson despite not having his best stuff.
Eric Seiler and Cole Frenzel each crossed the plate four times for Dickinson, which bashed out 18 hits.
The Williston offense was plenty productive as well, charting 14 hits.
The round-robin formatted tournament continues today with Fargo and Dickinson at 1 p.m., Minot and Bismarck at 4 p.m. and Minot and Williston at 7 p.m.
Dickinson 104 452 4 — 20 18 0
Williston 302 020 1 — 8 14 1
W–Stephen Laylock. L–Eric Olson. HR–Williston, Doug Richter.
Highlights: Dickinson, Eric Seiler 2-for-4, 4 runs; Cole Frenzel 4 runs; Ben Herauf 2-for-3, 2 runs; Williston, Shawn Egge 2-for-4; Doug Richter 2-for-3, HR 3 RBI.
Records: Dickinson 31-9.
Tags: legion baseball, sports, baseball, roughriders
More from around the web
RSS Feeds