CLASS B: MPCG edges Cards for title

MANDAN -- May-Port-C-G pitcher Chase Knudson no doubt moved up a notch in the Patriots' rotation on Saturday.

The Patriots' right-hander tossed a six-hitter and banged out four hits to lead MPCG to a 4-1 win over Carrington and its first state Class B baseball championship.

Knudson gave up one run in the first inning and it was all goose eggs from there. Not bad for a pitcher whose spot in the rotation was not really determined.

"He's probably three or four, more of a three (in the rotation)," MPCG coach Eric Nygaard said. "He just did awesome. He was fresh, He did very well."

May-Port-CG's first three batters reached on singles. Brady Nygaard led off the game and eventually scored on a single by Knudson.

Asked to pick what he was most pleased with, Knudson chose hitting. "I think it was," he said. "I just went up there and thought base hit, base hit, base hit. I wasn't going to try to rip a home run, just base hits."

Knudson drove in two runs and scored one. All told, the Patriots pounded out 10 hits against Carrington starter Brett Lyman and reliever Braxton Hewitt.

Jacob Klath added two hits.

Carrington answered in its half of the first when Hewitt singled with one out, moved up on Brady Smith's single and scored on Easton Paeper's double.

Although Knudson allowed in all but two innings, no other runner advanced past second base.

"My team made a lot of good plays," Knudson. "I just threw strikes and did my job. My teammates did theirs. That's why we got the win."

May-Port-CG went up 3-1 on Klath's one-out double in the fifth inning. Knudson led off the inning with his third hit of the game and went to second went Garrett Bickett, a reserve forced into the game after an injury to Lucas Geiszler in the first inning, dropped an Aaron Ust pop fly to right. Knudson and Ust raced home on Flath's hit to left-center.

It surprises me that he didn't catch that ball," Carrington coach Wayne Shipman said. "But that's baseball. He's a freshman. He'll learn from it."

May-Port-CG tacked on an insurance run in the sixth after the Cardinals failed to turn a routine double play. Knudson's single plated Brady Nygaard.

"We made an error and they got a run and we made another one and they got another run. I wasn't feeling too bad until that double play that put us down three runs," Shipman said. "We gave them their last two runs."

May-Port-CG (14-8) earned a berth in the title game by outlasting Harvey-Wells County 10-7 in the opener. They blew a 5-0 lead and pulled away from a 7-7 tie in the third inning in that game. The Patriots rode a five-run fourth inning to a 6-4 win over Velva-Drake in the semifinals.

The ending was much different that the way the Patriots' started the tournament.

"We just kind of grinded it," MPCG coach Eric Nygaard said. "That's the character of our team. We just had to make plays. It's not always the prettiest, we just get the job done."

Carrington (20-7-1) edged Lewis and Clark-Parshall 2-0 in the first round, then knocked off top-seed Grafton 7-4 in the semifinals. The Cardinals spoiled Grafton's title hopes with a six-run second inning.

Carrington had to win three games on the final day of the region tournament, two against last year's start champion, just to get to state.

MPCG 100 021 0-4 10 1

C 100 000 0-1 6 2

Chase Knudson, Jacob Klath (7) and Brady Nygaard. Brett Lyman, Braxton Hewitt (6) and Easton Paeper. W-Knudson. L-Lyman HR: None.

Third place

Grafton 6, Velva-Drake 3

Jaron Sunday tossed a complete game, allowing two earned runs on five hits to lead the Spoilers to victory in the third-place game.

Jess Suda and Charles Thompson each went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for Grafton.

Marcus Mack had two hits and two RBIs for Velva-Drake.

VD 201 000 0-3 5 4

G 310 002 x-6 8 6

Vedaa and Mack. Lunday and Thompson. W-Lunday. L-Vedaa.

Fifth place

Beulah 5, Kindred-Richland 1

Braydon Nelson allowed one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings to lead the Miners to fifth place.

Christian Danielson went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the Vikings.

B 121 001 0-5 6 1

KR 001 000 0-1 3 4

Nelson, Remmich (6), Battest (7) and Battest. Olien, Andel (2), Lingen (7) and Tallakson. W-Nelson. L-Olien.

Seventh place

Harvey-Wells County 2,

Lewis & Clark-Parshall 1

Brady Bachmeier went 1-for-3 with two RBIs as Harvey-Wells County earned seventh place.

LCP 010 000 0-1 8 2

HWC 000 010 1-2 9 2

A. Nelson and J. Nelson. P. Bachmeier and B. Bachmeier. W-P. Bachmeier. L-A. Nelson.

All-tournament team: May-Port-CG - Chase Knudson, Brady Nygaard, Aaron Ust. Carrington - Easton Paeper, Brady Smith, Brady Bickett, Braxton Hewitt. Grafton Zak Hernandez, Cody Kingsbury, Jess Suda. Velva-Drake - Brady Engebretson. Beulah - Alec Battest. Kindred-Richland - Fletcher Andel. Lewis and Clark-Parshall - Austin Lee. Harvey-Wells County - Parker Bachmeier.