SURREY -- The Minot High baseball team had nine errors, gave up eight runs in the final inning and squandered a six-run lead en route to a 16-13 loss to Dickinson High on Thursday.
The first game of the West Region doubleheader saw the Magicians implode in the sixth and seventh innings.
The Midgets trailed 9-4 through five innings, but scored 12 runs as Minot made throwing and catching errors, hit batters, walked in runs and even balked home a run.
"Nothing against Dickinson there, but I thought we gave that one away," Minot coach Pete Stenberg said. "Our pitchers were making pitches and we need to come out and make the plays behind them."
The Magi evened the series with a 14-8 win in the second game. Both games counted toward the West standings.
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Dickinson ends its regular season with a 15-11 overall record and a 9-5 mark in the West. The Midgets will have either the No. 2 in next week's West Region Tournament in Williston.
In Game 1, Minot senior Austin Berntson gave up just one earned run through five innings, but loaded the bases in the sixth and gave up an RBI single to Dickinson senior Korey Kallenbach.
Sophomore Chandler Jacob replaced Berntson, balked in a run and gave up two more on a single by senior Taylor Thiel.
Minot built the lead back to three with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Dickinson loaded the bases again to start the seventh.
Senior Marcus Quist relieved Jacob after two batters and three Magician errors followed, so Stenberg changed pitchers again.
The Midgets scored eight runs in the inning, but just three were earned.
"You can't give a team 12 batters in an inning, so that one kind of hurt," Stenberg said.
Minot's seventh-inning rally fell short, but not before junior Hunter Oothoudt hit a two-run home run off Dickinson junior reliever James Kary.
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"It kind of quieted (their) dugout a little bit, got our dugout goin' and it was a really good start to the seventh inning," Oothoudt said. "I thought we could do it and they just kind of overpowered us."
Minot got two more runners on base, but Kary got a strikeout and forced the Magicians into two groundouts to pick up the win.
"Adrenaline was goin' by then," Kary said. "We had two outs, so I knew I just had to get us a ground ball -- ground ball, fly ball, didn't matter how we got the last out."
Kary hit a home run for the Midgets in Game 2.
Dickinson 101 024 8 -- 16 9 5
Minot 305 012 2 -- 13 11 9
Alex Huschka, Taylor Kraenzel (3), Korey Kallenbach (5), James Kary (6) and Brady Dutchak; Austin Berntson, Chandler Jacob (6), Marcus Quist (7), Caleb Fornshell (7) and Kolton Larson. W-Kary. L-Quist. HR-M, Hunter Oothoudt
Highlights: M, Oothoudt 2-5, 3 RBIs, 3 R. D, Taylor Thiel 2-5, 3 RBIs, 2 R.
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Dickinson 420 210 -- 9 6 8
Minot 000 761 -- 14 12 4
Casey Ryan, Caleb Fornshell (3) and Kolton Larson; Mason Schiff, Jonathan Wanner (3), Dylan Skabo (4) Korey Kallenbach (5) and Brady Dutchak. W-Fornshell. L-Skabo. HR-J, Taylor Thiel, James Kary.
Highlights: M, Hunter Oothoudt 2-5, 3 RBIs, 2 R, Brock Krueger 2-4, 3 RBIs, R, Larson 2-3, 2 RBIs, 2 R.
