Sox split In Tolna

The Black Sox concluded their regular season with a split double header in Tolna last Saturday, ahead of Monday's region tournament in New Rockford.

Their opponents were the Mustangs of Nelson County/Midkota, a region opponent equally eager to build momentum before the postseason.

Unfortunately for them, however, Sheyenne-New Rockford's Keaton Cudworth was on the mound for game 1 of the double header.

Cudworth had been outstanding against South Border in his previous start back on May 2, and he delivered more of the same on Saturday, May 13. And unlike last time, the Sox' defense and offense capitalized on it.

Cudworth himself got the scoring started in the first inning with an RBI single to bring home Connor Knatterud, who'd later get an RBI of his own in the second inning. Also earning RBI's in later innings were Haydon Meier and Thomas Allmaras.

Most of the Sox' runs, however, were unearned, as the Black Sox capitalized on nine errors committed by the Mustangs in game 1. The Sox limited their mistakes on defense to just two, which resulted in two unearned runs.

With the SNR offense humming and their defense holding up, Cudworth was able to comfortably manage the Mustangs' lineup from the mound.

In seven innings of work, he gave up just two hits, zero earned runs, zero walks and struck out four batters. It was his latest gem after a tough start to the season.

"Keaton Cudworth is one of the best pitchers in the region," said Black Sox head coach Dave Skogen. "Early on this season we struggled mechanically a bit with some things that lead to the ball staying up in the zone ... We addressed the mechanical issue, Keaton worked his tail off in doing so, and he has been lights out since."

In his last 13.1 innings on the mound, Cudworth has allowed just a single earned run while striking out 12 batters.

After seven innings in game 1, the final score was 10-2, giving the Black Sox their third win this season.

Game 2 was underway soon after, but good times don't always last long.

Unlike game 1, the Sox struggled to generate offense and committed costly errors on defense.

Aside from an RBI double courtesy of Brody Weisenburger in the first inning, the Black Sox' bats were largely kept silent. Meanwhile, Dakota Prairie had built a 5-1 lead after just 3.5 innings.

Starting on the mound for the Mustangs was Ross Thompson, who allowed just three hits and one earned run in six innings.

His mound opponent was Luke Yri, and in seven innings he too allowed just three hits. But with six errors committed on defense, the Sox allowed Dakota Prairie to amass seven runs – all of which were unearned – bringing the final score to 1-7.

The split double header, as well as an earlier loss to Kidder County on Thursday, May 11, brings the Sox final regular-season record to 3-10.

Next for SNR was the play-in game for the region 3 tournament, played against South Border on Thursday, May 18. The winner moved on to the region tournament, hosted at the Jim Johnson Memorial Field in New Rockford beginning Monday, May 22.

Skogen said his team's focus needs to be defense if they're going to make a postseason run.

"The biggest area we need to see improvement in is defensive consistency," he said. "We have played really good defense in spurts but have struggled with consistency. If we play solid defense in the tournament, we will be a tough out!"

The play-in game, and any potential region games they play this week, will be covered in next week's edition of the Transcript.

Region 3 Baseball

Wolves 14, Black Sox 8

Thursday, May 11

in New Rockford

KC 2 3 3 4 0 1 1 - 14 14 0

SNR 3 1 1 2 0 1 0 - 8 8 1

SNR Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Knatterud 1 1 0 0

Cudworth 4 1 0 1

Yri 3 1 0 0

A Weisenburger 4 2 2 2

B Weisenburger 4 0 1 1

Meier 4 0 0 0

Hilbert 3 2 2 1

Collier 2 0 1 1

Allmaras 0 0 0 0

Simon 4 1 2 1

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Knatterud 3.2 10 12 1

Meier 3.1 4 2 1

Kidder Co. Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Zimmerman 5 4 4 0

Hager 5 2 3 3

Larson 3 1 0 3

Braun 3 0 0 1

Oster 3 0 0 1

Schadegg 0 0 0 0

Silbernagel 4 1 1 0

Kartes 5 0 0 1

Simmers 5 2 2 1

Binder 3 3 1 0

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Zimmerman 4.0 6 7 3

Larson 2.0 2 1 3

Braun 1.0 0 0 0

Region 3 Baseball

Mustangs 2, Black Sox 10

Saturday, May 13

in Tolna

SNR 1 2 1 0 1 2 3 - 10 7 2

NC/M 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 2 9

SNR Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Knatterud 5 1 2 1

Cudworth 5 0 1 1

B Weisenburger 4 0 0 0

A Weisenburger 2 2 0 0

Yri 4 1 1 0

Meier 4 1 1 1

Hilbert 3 1 0 0

Collier 3 0 1 0

Allmaras 1 2 1 1

Simon 2 2 0 0

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Cudworth 7.0 2 0 4

NC/M Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Rainsberry 3 0 0 1

Lee 3 0 0 0

Johnson 3 0 0 0

Thompson 3 0 0 0

Lenz 3 0 0 0

Sundeen 3 1 1 0

Hoyt 3 0 0 0

Flaagen 2 0 0 0

Lillehaugen 2 1 1 0

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Johnson 6.0 4 1 3

Lillehaugen 1.0 3 2 2

Region 3 Baseball

Mustangs 7, Black Sox 1

Saturday, May 13

in Tolna

NC/M 0 1 2 2 0 0 2 - 7 3 0

SNR 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 6

SNR Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Knatterud 3 1 1 0

Cudworth 3 0 1 0

B Weisenburger 3 0 1 1

A Weisenburger 2 0 0 0

Yri 3 0 0 0

Meier 2 0 1 0

Hilbert 3 0 0 0

Collier 2 0 0 0

Allmaras 1 0 0 0

Simon 2 0 0 0

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Yri 7.0 3 0 6

NC/M Individual Stats

Hitting: AB R H BI

Lenz 4 1 0 1

Lee 3 1 0 0

Johnson 3 1 1 1

Thompson 3 0 1 1

Lillehaugen 0 0 0 0

Sundeen 4 1 0 0

Hoyt 3 1 0 0

Flaagen 2 1 1 0

Gjovik 3 0 0 1

Ronningen 2 1 0 0

Pitching: IP H ER SO

Thompson 6.0 3 1 4

Lillehaugen 1.0 1 0 2