Dickinson Roughriders head coach Andy Emard said his team's performance on the first four games is on the coaching staff.
Based on the results, it's probably a good thing not to place blame on the team, especially after losing to the Rapid City Expos 15-4 on Wednesday at Southside Municipal Ballpark.
Only one nine-inning game was played instead of the scheduled two seven-inning games.
It comes on top of a 23-11 loss to the Expos in the second game of a doubleheader Tuesday night.
"All in all, the coaching staff will still wear these losses," Emard said. "Because of us, we haven't taught them everything they need to know to be ready for success."
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Whether that comes to down helping the players strike a scoring blow when the opportunity presents itself, getting a third out of an inning or completing routine defensive plays, any improvement in those areas would have made a difference against Rapid City.
There were a couple of chances for Dickinson (1-3) to come back when the game was still within reach.
With Rapid City (18-4) leading 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the odds were in the Roughriders' favor to bring at least one run across when they loaded the bases to lead off the inning.
It didn't happen, though, as Expos starter Casey Chilstrom got out of the jam by striking out Taylor Dutchak, and then induced comebackers from Brett Braunagel and Sean Kelly to get out of trouble.
Rapid City made Dickinson pay as it increased its lead to 8-1 over the next two innings.
The Roughriders still weren't without hope, but squandered an opportunity in the sixth when Sean Gordon was picked off at first after leading off with a single and Chilstrom finished the inning with two strikeouts after Tevin Papineau singled.
"We had some chances where some guys were pressing so hard to get that hit instead of having that cool confidence that I can do that job," Emard said.
One saving grace was scoring two runs off a bases-loaded situation in the eighth after Braunagel and Kelly each had RBI singles. Caleb Burgard didn't have another home run in him, though, despite two in the first two games of the season as he grounded out to third to end the inning.
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Rapid City scored in every inning except the second and eighth. It put across six runs in the ninth.
Besides Chilstrom's great outing -- striking out five and allowing four hits over seven innings -- left fielder Aris Rodriguez left his bat do the talking in going 4-for-6 with four RBI. Three of his RBI came in the fifth and sixth innings when Rapid City turned a three-run lead into a seven-run advantage.
Dickinson tied the game at 1 in the second after Dutchak hit a RBI single.
But Rapid City went back on top for good in the third when left fielder Jacob James singled in catcher Jarrick Jensen. The Expos scored two more runs in the fourth.
Taylor Kraenzel, who entered the game in the eighth for Dickinson, brought in designated hitter Jordan Tescher for the final run of the game.
"These guys keep working hard and it's going to start coming," Emard said.
The Roughriders take on the Mandan Chiefs on the road for one nine-inning game at 5:30 p.m. today.
Rapid City 101 222 016 -- 15 16 4
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Dickinson 010 000 021 -- 4 10 5
Casey Chilstrom, No. 40 (8) and Jarrick Jenson. Brodie Candrian, Aaron Berg (6), Tevin Papineau (9), Caleb Burgard (9) and Nick Rohwedder. W-Chilstrom. L-Candrian (0-1).
Highlights: RC, Aris Rodriguez 4-for-6, 4 RBI, 2B; Chilstrom 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 K, 4 H. D, Papineau, 2-for-4, R; Kraenzel 1-for-1, RBI; Scott Gordon 2-for-5.
Records: Rapid City 18-4, Dickinson 1-3.
