Aggies survive opening round

It took extra innings, but the defending state Class B baseball champion Velva-Drake-Anamoose Aggies survived a 1-0 ballgame vs. Watford City during the opening round of the state tournament at Mandan’s Memorial Ballpark on Thursday.

Both the Aggies and the Wolves went a full seven innings, before Velva-Drake-Anamoose’s Zach Craig scored the only run of the game in the top of the eighth.

The Aggies’ Ty Bruner relieved starting pitcher Jon Mack in the bottom of the eighth and didn’t allow a Watford City hit to earn the save. In seven innings, Mack allowed just one hit and three walks, while striking out four.

Bruner, Zach Podoll and Collin Kittelson were the only Aggies to record a hit in the game, as Watford City committed four errors in the field.

The Wolves’ Trey Jacobson shouldered the loss on the mound after striking out 11 batters. Jacobson gave up one run on two hits and allowed three walks in 7 1/3 innings.

Other teams picking up victories on Thursday were Grafton, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg and Kindred-Richland.

In today’s semifinals, the Aggies will face Grafton at 4:30 p.m., with Mayport-CG taking on Kindred-Richland to follow.

Watford City will take on Bottineau to begin the day at 11:30 a.m. in consolation play, while Dakota Prairie will face Hettinger in the second consolation game of the day.

Grafton 8, Bottineau 3

The Grafton Spoilers struck for four runs in the bottom of inning No. 1, which was all the scoring they’d need as they took down the Bottineau Braves by five.

Austin Campbell swung a hot bat for Grafton, going 3-for-4 — all singles — with two runs scored. Jaime Villarreal went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs for the Spoilers, while Ryan Dusek drove in tow and scored one without recording a hit.

Mark LaCroix, Logan Milican and Cody Brooks each recorded two hits for Bottineau. Brooks smacked a pair of doubles and drove in a run, while LaCroix scored twice.

Joseph Demers went the distance on the hill for the Spoilers, notching the win by allowing two earned runs on three hits and three walks, while striking out eight over seven innings.

Bottineau’s Justin McCloud was tagged with the loss, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and five walks, while striking out five over six.

Mayport-CG 2, Dakota Prairie 1

The third game of the day went all the way to the bottom of the ninth inning before the Patriots finally plated the go-ahead run to take down Region 3 champ Dakota Prairie.

Both teams scored in the first, which set the table for what turned out to be quite the pitching dual.

The Patriots’ Jace Ingebretson hurled all nine innings, notching the victory after allowing one run on two hits and a walk. Ingebretson struck out a whopping 16 Dakota Prairie hitters.

Colton Anderson was just as solid for the Knights, allowing just one run on four hits and four walks, while striking out 13 through seven.

Dakota Prairie’s Brandon Gourneau took over on the hill in the eighth, allowing the go-ahead run in the ninth after giving up three hits and striking out a pair.

Mayport-CG’s Isaac Nepstad went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, while Brady Nygaard went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Dakota Prairie’s two hits in the game came from Logan Lund and Evan Kroke. Lund picked up the team’s lone RBI.

Kindred-Richland 8, Hettinger 2

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the third inning, Kindred-Richland rallied for five runs off Hettinger starter Ben Laufer and cruised to an 8-2 victory in the final game of the day.

The Kindred-Richland Vikings scored eight runs on just five hits, with Austin Dahlgren and Alex Shields each posting a pair of RBIs. Dahlgren also stole three bases and scored a run.

Nobody for the Vikings had a multiple-hit game.

The Black Devils picked up just three hits on Vikings’ starter Nic Milbrandt, with Chad Mosbrucker leading the way going 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a stolen base.

Milbrandt notched the win, allowing three walks and striking out 11 over seven innings.

Laufer allowed four earned runs after walking five and striking out seven.

Velva-Drake-Anamoose 1, Watford City 0

Velva-D-A 000 000 01 — 1 3 2

Watford City 000 000 00 — 0 1 4

W—Jonathan Mack. L—Trey Jacobson. S—Ty Bruner.

Grafton 8, Bottineau 3

Bottineau 100 001 1 — 3 8 2

Grafton 410 201 x — 8 8 1

W—Joseph Demers. L—Justin McCloud.

Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg 2, Dakota Prairie 1

Dakota Prairie 100 000 000 — 1 2 3

Mayport-CG 100 000 001 — 2 7 4

W—Jace Ingebretson. L—Brandon Gourneau

Kindred-Richland 8, Hettinger 2

Hettinger 002 000 0 — 2 3 3

Kindred-Rich. 005 012 x — 8 5 1

W—Nicholas Milbrandt. L—Ben Laufer.

Tags: class b, sports, baseball, playoffs