The Dickinson Roughriders American Legion baseball team walked away with one win after a three game series against Rapid City Post-22 this past weekend.
The Roughriders topped the Hardhats 6-5 in the first of two games at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark on Saturday, but Rapid City took Saturday's nightcap 11-0 in six innings and Sunday's rubber match 15-3 in eight innings. The weekend's results brought Dickinson's overall record to 21-11.
In Dickinson's victory on Saturday, Tanner Ouellette not only drove in the first run for the Roughriders, but he also hit an RBI single bringing in the go-ahead run and giving Dickinson a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning.
Rapid City's Walker Paz tied it up with a lead-off homer in the fifth inning. Ouellette came in to relieve pitcher Sam England when the Hardhats went ahead 4-3, and immediately generated three infield outs.
Hits from Tristen Brunk, who went 2 for 3 at the plate, and Shawn Steffan finished off the scoring for the Roughriders, dealing the Hardhats only their seventh loss of the season.
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"They're a perennial powerhouse in the nation," head coach Stephen Greenwood said of Rapid City. "Obviously it feels really good to get a win. We had a few breaks. We clutched up in some at-bats, made some plays when we had to, made some pitches when we had to."
The Roughriders' fight faded in the next two matchups. The Hardhats took the nightcap 11-0, ending the game in six innings.
"It was an emotional first game," Greenwood said. "We spent a lot of energy doing that. We did a lot of things right. Second game, we kind of hit the coast button. Against a team like this, you give them an inch they're going to take a foot."
For the first three innings of Sunday's contest, Dickinson kept up, tying the game 3-3 after three innings. But Rapid City pulled ahead, cutting the game short again and winning 15-3 after eight innings.
In the latter half of the doubleheader Saturday, the Hardhats got instant revenge, allowing just three hits in their 11-0 shutout. The Roughriders found themselves behind 4-0 after the first inning.
"I think a lot of it is starting pitching," Brunk said. "We kind of dug ourselves in a hole and then it went down from there."
Rapid City starter Kolton Sherbeuske struck out seven batters and allowed three hits over five innings.
Eli Jung, Michael McChesney and Brunk were the only Roughriders to record hits against Sherbeuske.
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"Our focus just wasn't there," Greenwood said. "We didn't come to play that second game.Their pitcher, he threw a great game. He's one of the better pitchers we're going to see, but I don't think we challenged him too hard today."
Cam Jorda started on the mound for Dickinson and lasted four innings, striking out two, allowing one walk and five runs.
Ouellette said going into the first inning of the second game, everyone was already feeling down due to early errors and playing from behind.
"We were a little more tired and were all just waiting for something to happen and no one stepped up to get a big hit to get us all going," Ouellette said. "It was just one of those games."
The rubber match Sunday started similarly to the Saturday's first game. The Hardhats led 2-0 after one, but Dickinson tied it up with hits from Cody Maier and Lucas Jones. When Rapid City posted another to make it 3-2, Jung sent in the tying run with an RBI single.
However, starting in the fourth, Rapid City caught fire and the Roughriders couldn't contain it. The Hardhats tallied 12 unanswered runs from then on.
"They wanted it more than we did," he said. "We did battle there. We stuck around for a while with them but then we just gave them too much."
A tricky part of the Hardhats' play was their movement on the bases, stealing when possible and moving up on wild pitches.
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"I thought they got way too good of jumps," Jones said. "Us pitchers and middle infielders, we got to hold runners better and make sure they can't get a good jump."
The Roughriders will travel to Fargo on Wednesday and Grand Forks on Thursday to close out their regular season.
"We have the capability of beating any team we step on the field with," Greenwood said. "If we come to play and we don't take one pitch off, that's what you need to do to be successful at the AA level."
Dickinson 6, Rapid City 5
RC 200 021 0 - 5 8 3
D 002 130 X - 6 11 2
RC: Riley McSherry (4.0), Tommy Wahl (2.0) and Timmy Paris. D: Sam England (4.0), Tanner Ouellette (1.2), Lucas Jones (1.1) and Tristen Brunk.
W-Ouellette. L-Wahl. HR-RC, Walker Paz.
Highlights: RC, Walker Paz 2-4, HR, 1 R, 2 RBI; Tod Stephens1-4, 2 RBI; Zach Solano 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Riley McSherry 4 IP, 8 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 K, 1 BB. D, Michael McChesney 3-3, 2 R; Shawn Steffan 2-3, 2 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI; Tristen Brunk 2-3, 1 R, 2 RBI; Lucas Jones 1-2, 1 R, 1.1 IP, 1 K; Tanner Ouellette 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 K, 1 BB; Sam England 1-3, 1 RBI, 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 K, 4 BB;
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Rapid City 11, Dickinson 0
RC 400 133 - 11 8 0
D 000 000 - 0 3 2
RC: Kolton Scherbeuske (5.0), Holden Jackson (1.0) and Timmy Paris. D: Cam Jorda (4.0), Kendall Jones (1.0), Michael McChesney, Cody Maier (1.0) and Tristen Brunk.
W-Sherbeuske. L-Jorda. HR-None.
Highlights: Zach Solano 2-3, 1 3B, 2 R, 1 RBI; Tod Stephens 1-3, 1 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI; Cooper Bowman 2-3, 3 R, 3 RBI; Kolton Sherbeuske 5 IP, 3 H, 7 K, 2 BB; Holden Jackson 1 IP, 2 K. Eli Jung 1-2; Tristen Brunk, 1-2; Michael McChesney, 1-2, 0 IP, 1 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 BB; Cam Jorda 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R (5 ER) 2 K, 1 BB; Kendall Jones 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 K, 3 BB; Cody Maier 1 IP.
Rapid City 15, Dickinson 3
RC 201 341 12 - 15 12 0
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D 021 000 00 - 3 6 0
RC: Kyle Maguire (3.0), Trey Everlein (1.0), Zach Choilis (4.0) and Timmy Paris. D: Morgan Wardner, Colton Jones, Ethan Dietz and Sam England and Tristen Brunk.
W-Maguire. L-Wardner. HR-RC, Timmy Paris.
