Fargo Davies silences Dickinson in Class A state tournament quarterfinals

• Dylan Wallner

Dickinson sophomore courtesy runner Dylan Wallner, middle, hangs on to third base after sliding in safely as Midgets head coach Pete Dobitz, left, watches the play and Fargo Davies senior third baseman Justin Beach tries to get a handle on the ball Thursday afternoon during the Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinals.
• Taylor Thiel

Dickinson senior first baseman Taylor Thiel, middle, awaits the throw from the mound as Fargo Davies junior Andrew Beyer slides back to first Thursday afternoon during the Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinals. At right is first base umpire Scott Collins.
• Mason Schiff

Dickinson senior pitcher Mason Schiff throws to Fargo Davies on Thursday afternoon during the Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinals.
• Dylan Skabo

Dickinson sophomore Dylan Skabo slides safely into third base as Fargo Davies senior third baseman Justin Beach tries to gather in a throw Thursday afternoon during the Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinals.
• Casey Quinlan

Fargo Davies pitcher Casey Quinlan delivers to Dickinson on Thursday afternoon during the Class A state baseball tournament quarterfinals. Quinlan struck out 13 to lead the Eagles to a 2-0 win.

Talk about it

More...

• East sweeps West on Day 1 of Class A state baseball tournament

MANDAN — The Dickinson High baseball team’s state championship hopes were dashed Thursday afternoon by the puzzling left arm of Fargo Davies junior Casey Quinlan.

Quinlan struck out 13 and gave up one hit as Davies, the No. 4 seed from the East Region, upset the West Region champion Midgets 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Class A state tournament.

“It’s an unfortunate matchup for the first round,” said Dickinson junior catcher Brady Dutchak, who had the team’s lone base hit in the fifth inning. “We ended up with the best pitcher in the state.”

The Midgets (18-12) knew they were in for a challenge when Quinlan struck out the first seven batters he faced, allowed Brett Schweitzer to pop out and then fanned Dutchak with a full count.

That was just the first three innings.

“Today I was looking at just really maximizing that first-pitch strike so I could go after them instead of having to play defense against them,” Quinlan said.

He got some help along the way too.

Junior Ryan Smith’s RBI double to the left-center field gap in the fourth inning scored junior Andrew Beyer, who led off the inning with a slow roller to second base.

Davies (25-11) tacked on another run in the sixth when freshman courtesy runner Tristan Hartness took advantage of a two-out fielder’s choice throw from shortstop to first on junior Gunnar Linstadet at-bat.

As Linstadet legged out a base hit, Hartness — running for senior Benjamin Spokley, who reached on a single — took advantage of Dickinson senior shortstop Jon Wanner’s choice to try and put out Linstadet at first for the final out of the inning.

Hartness rounded third base with a head of steam and scored standing up after Linstadet was called safe at first.

“Timely hitting, execution; that’s what we needed to do and we did it today,” Davies head coach Hans Anderson said.

Davies didn’t get much else off Dickinson senior pitcher Mason Schiff though.

The right-hander threw all seven innings, striking out six with no walks while scattering four hits.

“I felt like I missed a couple pitches here and there, which allowed them to have timely hitting,” Schiff said. “But other than that, I felt that I did pretty decent.”

Schiff staying ahead of Davies, for the most part, kept Dickinson within reach.

However, taking advantage of opportunities was a struggle.

Quinlan walked four and hit a batter, but the Midgets left seven runners on base.

They struggled to put the ball in play with runners aboard. When they did, Davies was able to generate easy infield putouts and gather in fly balls.

Schiff popped out to right field with two on in the fourth.

Dutchak’s infield bloop single in the fifth put two on for senior Korey Kallenbach, who also flew out to right.

In the sixth, sophomore leadoff batter Dylan Skabo was hit by a pitch and stole both second and third base, only to have Quinlan strikeout the next three batters.

The Midgets left two on in the seventh after senior Brett Braunagel walked and sophomore Brett Schweitzer hit into an error at third.

“I was personally happy with the adjustments we made over the course of the game,” Dickinson head coach Pete Dobitz said. “When we made some adjustments, were getting the ball into play. Then we were able to put some pressure on them a little bit, they had to play defense. He walked some guys. We have to get a little bit better with our eyes at the plate.”

Dickinson plays Bismarck High at 10:30 MDT Friday in the consolation semifinals. Davies will play Fargo Shanley at 3:30 p.m.

A win puts Dickinson into the fifth-place game.

“We don’t want to just roll over,” Schiff said. “But we want to come back and show them that we actually were the No. 1 team in the West.”

Davies 000 101 0 — 2 4 1

Dickinson 000 000 0 — 0 1 0

Casey Quinlan and Michael Nemer. Mason Schiff and Brady Dutchak. W–Quinlan. L–Schiff. HR–None.

Highlights: Davies, Quinlan 7 IP, 13 K, 4 BB, 1 HB, 1 H, 0 ER, 126 P; Andrew Beyer 1-for-3, run; Ryan Smith 1-for-3, 2B, RBI; Gunnar Linstadet 1-for-3, RBI; Benjamin Spokley 1-for-3. Dickinson, Schiff 7 IP, 6 K, 0 BB, 2 HB, 2 ER, 4 H, 93 P; Dutchak 1-for-3.

Records: Davies 25-11, Dickinson 18-12.

Tags: high school baseball, dickinson midgets, class a baseball tournament, sports, updates, baseball