DICKINSON – On the Western Edge, you can tell it’s Spring when the cottonwoods start blooming and the bats start cracking down at Astoria Field, courtesy of the Badlands Big Sticks. The team, which is part of the Independence League in summer league collegiate baseball, routinely draws a large crowd and opening night on Tuesday, May 23 was no different. And fans were rewarded with a fine display of baseball to go along with the beautiful weather and family-friendly atmosphere, which features a bounce-house for children, excellent concession stand offerings and other genuine ballpark amenities.
“The weather turned out great ... and we definitely have a lot of fine-tuning to do with this being the first day with the operations, but I definitely feel like it was a successful opening night,” said Big Sticks owner Dave Ouellette. “Seeing 100 kids out there running the bases in the seventh inning, that's what this is all about: Seeing the kids out enjoying our short window and not sitting on the couch on their iPads, that type of thing.”
Amidst all that activity the Big Sticks put on a show on the diamond as well, with a 12-4 win over the Spearfish (SD) Sasquatch to open the 2023 season through the abundant efforts of designated hitter Danny Rogers, who went 2-for-5 with a grand-slam homer, a double and 6 total RBI and a run that accounted for half the team’s scoring on the night. That, combined with an outstanding 7-hit performance from the pitching staff, kept the ‘Squatch on their heels throughout the game, despite a pair of homers of their own.
Badlands took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single from Dickinson State University standout Balas Buckmaster that plated left-fielder Joe Osborn, who reached base after being hit by a pitch. The Sasquatch came out of hiding to score a pair of runs in the second frame, but then the Big Sticks came out swinging in the bottom of the inning. Third-baseman Preston Jones reached first after being plunked, then catcher Isaac Huettl and right-fielder Cam Credeur hit back-to-back singles, with Credeur driving in Jones to tie the game at 2-2 and Huettl advanced to second. Quade Peters moved both runners over on a ground-out and Osborn popped-out, but first-baseman Cooper Hill walked to load the bases and that set up the fireworks for Rogers, who drilled the ball to deep center-field and over the fence for a grand-slam home run that appeared to glance off the glove of leaping Spearfish center-fielder Daniel Thiessen to give the Big Sticks a solid 6-2 lead at the end of two.
With the game settling down in the middle innings, and the Sasquatch peeking out of the woods to score a pair of runs on a solo homer from Luis Reyes and an RBI single from Christian Soto to close the gap to 6-4, Badlands again took advantage of a single in the sixth inning that scored Jones and an error on the throw that helped Credeur cross the plate to give the Sticks an insurmountable 8-4 lead.
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A 4-run eighth inning sealed the deal for the Big Sticks, with RBI singles from Credeur and Peters, which was followed by an RBI double from Rogers that scored Credeur and Peters to close out the game.
The pitching staff for the night of Braxton Greenburg, Calvin Watkins and Kyler Beekman combined to strike out eight on the night and walked only 2.
“It was really good, we came out and got on the board right away and then they kind of fought back a little bit,” said assistant coach Cameron Guevara, who is filling in for manager Jordan Price, who is still coaching his playoff-bound prep baseball team in Colorado. “But we ended up getting some big hits in some clutch spots and put up some zeroes and it was a good opening-day 'W.'
Guevara added, "We threw the ball really well — all three of them (pitchers) — threw extremely well and we had a couple of balls go over the fence that probably wouldn't have on normal days, but the wind was blowing out, so we find a way to get around those and battle back offensively, ”
The Sasquatch will be skulking around town for the next two days, with games tonight and on Thursday at 6:20 p.m., before the team heads out for its first road-trip to visit the Oahe Zap in Pierre, SD from May 26 to 28. Oahe will be in Dickinson on the back-end of that three-game set from May 30 to June 1 and then the Big Sticks will host the Sawtooth (Idaho) Sockeyes from June 2 to 4.
"We're looking forward to another really good day outside, hopefully we can just keep the good pitching rolling and get some runs on the board and do it again," Guevara said.
For more information about the Badlands Big Sticks, please read The Dickinson Press and/or visit https://www.badlandsbigsticks.com/ .
Box Score:
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SQCH 021 010 000 – 4 7 2
BBST 150 002 04x – 12 13 1
Batting
2B – Alex Urlaub, Danny Rogers. HR – Rogers. TB – Rogers 6, Cam Credeur 3, Urlaub 2, Preston Jones 2, Isaac Huettl 1, Balas Buckmaster 1, Quade Peters 1, Cooper Hill 1, Joe Osborn 1. HBP – Osborn, Jones. SB – Peters.
Pitching
Braxton Greenburg – 5IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 3K
Calvin Watkins – 3IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K
Kyler Beekman – 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 2K
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