BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - The Dickinson Roughriders American Legion baseball team had an up-and-down day on Friday, hitting well in a loss to Northfield, Minn., and defending poorly in a victory against Bloomington on the first day of the Gopher Classic.
The Roughriders (17-7) scored 13 runs through three innings against Northfield, but the River Rats scored in each inning, eventually claiming a 16-15 victory.
Dickinson led 13-10 after the third but went scoreless until the top of the seventh. Northfield, however, kept scoring, plating six total runs in the middle innings to pull ahead for good.
"We hit the ball great, we were aggressive, hitting our pitch, taking everything they gave to us and then we laid off the gas and let them back into the game," Roughriders head coach Stephen Greenwood said. "Our demeanor changed. We didn't want it bad enough in the first one."
Dickinson's Sam England tallied another three hits and drove in four runs in the game. Full statistics were not available for either game.
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In the nightcap, Dickinson recorded several errors in the field, opening the door for Bloomington to score in every inning, but Cody Maier's RBI double in the top of the seventh atoned for those mistakes and lifted the Roughriders to an eventual 5-4 victory.
"The second game was a battle," Greenwood said. "That first game took a lot out of us - a tough couple hours. Tanner Ouellette pitched awesome the whole game, and Lucas (Jones) came in for the save with runners on first and second, nobody out, and got out of it."
Dickinson continues play in the tournament against Champlin (Minn.) at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time today. On Sunday, the Roughriders face Mankato (Minn.) and Creighton Prep, a Nebraska team that has already beaten them once this season. Those game times are 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
