Cardinals roll late, send SNR Black Sox to second loss

Both Carrington and SNR's aces were dealing early, but once the Black Sox went to their bullpen, the Cardinals jumped at the opportunity.

The visitors to Jim Johnson Field from down south 16 miles, got a 13-4 win in the opening game of region three play on Friday afternoon, April 9, and three players did the share of the damage in the books.

Grady Shipman, Austin Trelstad and Ethan Buskness all had three hits to combine for nine of Carrington's 13 base knocks, with Shipman doubling twice and the other two also adding extra-base hits to the Cards' column.

Carrington couldn't do much of anything against SNR starter Alex Harrison for the first three innings, striking out six times, but the tall, hard-throwing righty gave way to an even taller southpaw, Evan Ulrich, to conserve the former's pitch count early in the season.

The Cards would strike for three runs in the top of the fourth inning, two more in the fifth and a single tally in the sixth, before blowing things wide open in the seventh, with seven runs.

Cardinal starting pitcher Lucas Hendrickson was strong through four-plus innings, but finally tired in the fifth, as he loaded the bases, while holding a 5-0 lead. Shipman came on in relief, and had his control issues as well, but held the damage to three Blacksox runs.

On the basepaths, Carrington (2-1, 1-0 Region 3) couldn't be stopped. The Cards swiped 10 stolen bases, with Michael Clifton (who also had two hits), Jacob Page and Josh Bickett going for two each.

Hendrickson and Shipman held the Sox to four hits, one apiece by Ulrich, Nick Berglund, Lucas Yri and Koven Walford.

The five-inning JV game followed, and all of the runs that resulted in a 4-3 win for SNR came in the first inning.

Page lasted just a third of an inning before Trelstad came onto the hill, and the senior had a sparkling mop-up outing with 10 strikeouts in 3-2/3 innings. In fact, the game went into the books for the Cardinal JV as a combined no-hitter, albeit a loss.

Carrington finished with five hits, four of those courtesy of Owen Hagel and Bickett, and Easton Mittleider had the other hit for the Cards.

Haydon Meier was the winning pitcher for SNR in the JV game, with Connor Knatterud pitching effectively for the final three-plus frames.

SNR (0-2, 0-1) aims to do a 180-degree turn to their early season fortunes, but take on a formidable foe in new region three member, LaMoure/Litchville-Marion, on Tuesday in New Rockford at 4:30 p.m., then host their first game of the Jamboree on Friday against Park River/Fordville-Lankin around 2:30 p.m.

The Saturday contests will feature the Blacksox and South Border playing their own region three tilt at 12:30 p.m., and SNR finishes the proceedings with a game against North Star at 4:30 p.m.

Region 3 Baseball

Carrington 13, SNR 4

at New Rockford

Cgtn. 000 321 7 - 13 13 0

SNR 000 031 0 - 4 4 7

Alex Harrison, Evan Ulrich (4), Nick Berglund (7) and Koby Duda; Lucas Hendrickson, Grady Shipman (5) and Hudson Schmitz. W - Hendrickson. L - Ulrich.

SNR: Harrison 3 IP, 3 H, BB, 6 K; Ulrich 1-2; Berglund 1-3, run, SB; Lucas Yri 1-3, run; Koven Walford 1-3; Haydon Meier and Connor Knatterud run, SB each.

Carrington: Shipman 3-5, 2 doubles, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Austin Trelstad 3-4, double, run, 2 RBI; Ethan Buskness 3-5, double, 2 runs, RBI; Michael Clifton 2-5, double, 2 runs, 2 SB; Jacob Page hit, 2 runs, 2 SB, RBI; Noah Paulson hit, run, RBI; Josh Bickett run, 2 SB; Hendrickson and Schmitz one run each.

SNR 4, Carrington 3

(non-region game)

at New Rockford

Cgtn. 300 00 - 3 5 2

SNR 400 0x - 4 0 1

Page, Trelstad (1) and Corbin Clifton; Meier, Knatterud (2) and Trevor Waldo. W - Meier. L - Page.

Carrington: Owen Hagel 2-2; Bickett 2-3, double, run, SB; Easton Mittleider 1-2, C. Clifton run, SB; Page run.

SNR: Knatterud and Meier run, SB; Yri and Waldo one run each.