Dickinson comes up short despite valiant effort

The Dickinson Roughriders and the Laramie Rangers, out of Wyoming, were the last two teams to take the field at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark Saturday night before the championship games on Sunday.

The winner of this matchup would book a spot in the championship game on Sunday.

Laramie, who scored more than ten runs in each of their first two games in the tournament, couldn’t reach double figures in this one but would still win 7-0, holding Dickinson scoreless for the sixth time this summer.

“Whenever we see a little velocity on the mound our bats shut down,” Dickinson head coach Tyler Frenzel said. “We didn’t play badly. Isaac Daley pitched well, we were in the game through five but a couple errors cost us.”

The Rangers put up three runs on the starting pitcher Daley in the first two innings, but didn’t put up another run until the sixth.

Daley would toss six strikeouts but was pulled from the game in the fourth inning with two outs as Frenzel had his eye on conference matchups coming up next week. Frenzel used four different pitchers in the game.

“We ran out of pitching,” Frenzel said. “It was a ball game until the fifth. We were battling and trying but just ran out...we have six conference games next week so we have to save our arms.”

Some of the errors Frenzel mentioned came in the top of the sixth, when Laramie scored two runs off a little league home run. Errors were made at first base and at home plate as the ball never touched the outfield grass. The Rangers led 5-0 at this point.

Two more runs were scored against the Roughriders off wild pitches in the top of the seventh to cement the final scoreline.

Troy Berg went 3-for-3 in his plate appearances and tossed two scoreless innings on the mound. The Dickinson pitching staff surrendered just four hits and two RBI, but the errors and miscues on the mound allowed Laramie to put up unearned runs.

With the loss, the Roughriders will see themselves in the third place game on Sunday at 4 p.m. The expected opponent is Billings Post 406, who Dickinson defeated twice and tied once back on June 29 and 30.