Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Jack Erickson slides to home base as New Rockford pitcher, Koby Duda, misses a throw from teammate Connor Knatterud.
Post #30 second baseman, Caden Price, took one for the team after being struck in the back by a ball while in the batters box on Thursday, June 9 against Carrington Post #25.
On Thursday, June 9, Carrington Post #25 and New Rockford Post #30 played the first of back-to-back matchups in Legion baseball, with the second coming on Monday, June 13.
The Thursday game started about as well as the Black Sox could have hoped.
After 4.5 innings they had a commanding 5-0 advantage, and seemed well on their way to a win over their rivals. That's when a debilitating, three-inning-long defensive breakdown plagued Post #30.
Despite a relatively clean start defensively, the Black Sox had amassed 10 errors before the dust settled on Thursday's game, the majority of which were committed by second-baseman Caden Price.
With their defense stopping baseballs about as well as a strainer holds water, the Black Sox gave up 12 runs in three innings, all of which were recorded as unearned runs.
On offense, the Black Sox did their best to keep it close, but ultimately couldn't out-pace the rate at which they committed errors on defense.
The breakdown allowed the Red Birds to turn a five-run deficit into a 12-9 win.
Carrington then traveled to New Rockford four days later with high hopes of a repeat. But instead of being given another win, they found themselves in a slug fest with a much improved Black Sox squad.
Both teams had a strong start, and after three innings the score was knotted up at 3-3.
Black Sox starting pitcher Nick Berglund was a workhorse on the mound, going for five innings and throwing nearly 120 pitches. It wasn't a clean outing for either starting pitcher, however, as both Berglund and Red Birds' pitcher Kael Kovar gave up four earned runs on seven and eight hits, respectively.
The lead bounced back and forth regularly, and while the Black Sox were still committing defensive errors here and there, so too was Carrington Post #25, keeping the scoring close all the way through.
After 6.5 innings, the score was once again tied, this time at 9-9 going to the bottom of the seventh.
Unlike this spring and so far this summer, the Black Sox finally came up clutch when they needed to, thanks to none-other than second baseman, Caden Price.
Despite his performance the previous Thursday, Price played a mistake-free game on Monday, and when he approached the plate with a chance to win it in the seventh inning, he didn't miss.
The hit drove in Knatterud, who had reached second base after a Red Birds' error, and prompted the Black Sox dugout to mob their second baseman on the diamond as they celebrated their first win of the season.
New Rockford Post #30 now has an overall record of 1-2. Their next game was at home against Nelson County on Thursday, June 16. That matchup will be covered in the June 27 edition of the Transcript.
Correction: Last week's article covering the start of Legion baseball incorrectly referred to the Black Sox team for Legion baseball as "Sheyenne-New Rockford." Their official name is New Rockford Post #30.
District 4 Legion Baseball
Post #25 12, Post #30 9
Thursday, June 9
at Carrington
Post #30: 201 212 1 - 9 8 10
Post #25: 000 255 X - 12 4 2
Post #30 Individual Stats
Hitting: Connor Knatterud 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 run; Caden Price 1-4, 2 runs; Alex Harrison 2-3, 2 runs; Nick Berglund 1-3, 4 RBI, 1 run; Koby Duda 1-4, 1 RBI; Alex Weisenburger 1-2, 1 RBI, 1 run; Luke Yri 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 run.
Pitching: Harrison 4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO; Yri 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 0 SO.
Post #25 Individual Stats
Hitting: Grady Shipman 1-3, 2 runs; Jake Otto 2 runs; Trent Ekren 1-4, 2 runs; Brock Fike 2 RBI, 1 run; Kael Kovar 2-2, 2 runs, 1 RBI.
Pitching: Kovar 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO; Kyle Johnson 1.0 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO; Shipman 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO.
Non-District
Legion Baseball
Post #30 5, Post #25 2
Thursday, June 9
at Carrington
Post #30: 2 2 1 0 - 5 6 1
Post #25: 2 0 0 0 - 2 2 2
Post #30 Individual Stats
Hitting: Knatterud 1-1, 1 run; Price 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 run; Berglund 1 RBI; Yri 2-2, 1 RBI, 1 run; Kadon Hilbert 1-2, 1 run; DJ Mudgett 1 run.
Pitching: Mudgett 4.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO.
Post #25 Individual Stats
Hitting: Ekren 1-2, 1 run; Fike 1 run; Erickson 1-1, 2 RBI.
Pitching: Owen Hagel 4.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
District 4 Legion Baseball
Post #30 10, Post #25 9
Monday, June 13
at New Rockford
Post #25: 102 104 1 - 9 10 4
Post #30: 210 033 1 - 10 11 3
Post #30 Individual Stats
Hitting: Knatterud 1-5, 1 run; Price 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 runs; Harrison 2-3, 2 runs; Berglund 2-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs; Duda 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 run; Yri 1-3, 2 runs.
Pitching: Berglund 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO; Knatterud 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.
Post #25 Individual Stats
Hitting: Shipman 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Noah Paulson 1-3, 1 runs; Otto 2 runs; Jack Erickson 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 runs; Lucas Hendrickson 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 run; Ekren 1-4; Fike 2-4.
Pitching: Hendrickson 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 11 SO; Kovar 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO.
Non-District
Legion Baseball
Post #30 8, Post #25 4
Monday, June 13
in New Rockford
Post #30: 011 6XXX - 8 8 1
Post #25: 202 00XX - 4 3 1
Post #30 Individual Stats
Hitting: Knatterud 1-3, 2 RBI, 1 run; Price 1 run; Harrison 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Berglund 2-3, 3 RBI; Keaton Cudworth 1-3; Hilbert 1 run; A. Weisenburger 2-2, 1 RBI, 1 run; Mudgett 1 run.
Pitching: Mudgett 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO; Price 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO.
Post #25 Individual Stats
Hitting: Jacob Rexin 1 run; Hagel 1 run; Johnson 1-2; Fike 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 run; Otto 1-3.
Pitching: Hagel 4.0 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 B, 2 SO.
