LANGDON — The top two teams in Region 4 battled for first place up in Langdon on Monday.
It was Langdon Area/Munich’s baseball home opener at American Legion Field.
“We want to get into a groove of starting to play now. It’s been kind of hit-or-miss,” Cardinals head coach Josh Krivarchka said. “It’s already almost May. At times, the timing as far and hitting and stuff is a little off. So hopefully we start getting into a groove and can play some baseball games.”
There were undesirable conditions for those at the ballpark on Monday, as the wind made the temperature feel like it was in the low 30s. The wind was blowing in, too, so balls died in the outfield. The Cardinals (5-2, 2-1) were sunk by a four-run second inning, falling 5-2 in a region contest with Park River Area (10-4, 4-1).
Park River had lost three in a row, with a region defeat to Grafton and two Class A losses to West Fargo Horace.
“We try and just move to the next game in our minds. We don’t ever dwell on what’s already happened,” Park River head coach Brett Omdahl said. “Proud of the way the boys fought against Horace over the weekend, and proud of the way they responded today in a big region game.”
Senior right-hander Tucker Omdahl led the way for the Aggies. He navigated traffic all evening — LA/M had a leadoff baserunner in every inning — but the Cardinals never really got the big hit they needed.
Omdahl threw a whopping 123 pitches (79 strikes) in a complete-game effort. He allowed two runs on five hits and three walks, collecting nine strikeouts along the way. Seven of those strikeouts were of the looking variety.
Omdahl, along with his brother Jaxon Omdahl, are first cousins of Devils Lake’s Brodina siblings. Jaxon led off and played shortstop. He’s one of the highest-ranked players in his class by Prep Baseball Dakotas.
“He’s made a lot of strides, even off the field,” Coach Omdahl said of Jaxon. “He’s stronger, he’s faster and he’s a little bit longer. … That’s allowed to him to kind of play at a higher level.”
Senior righty Jax Johnson got the start for LA/M. He allowed four unearned runs in the second inning, after what was ruled an error by the second baseman on a tough grounder.
The Cardinals made four errors in the first three innings. All five runs against Johnson were unearned.
After the teams traded a run in the first inning, Park River jumped ahead 5-1 in the second. Jacob Solseng hit an RBI double, and T. Omdahl had a two-run single.
“You can’t let a pitcher get comfortable and continue to pepper the zone,” Coach Omdahl said. “We wanted to put pressure on them guys. And the only way to do that is swinging strikes early in the count. … Early in the game, that was the attack. Let’s get on him early.”
Johnson, who was the Senior Athlete of the Year for the Division A state champion football team, settled in over the middle innings. He worked around eight hits to give his team 5 1/3 innings of work. He struck out four, walked three and threw 87 pitches (50 strikes).
“I thought he competed hard,” Krivarchka said. “He didn’t have his best stuff today. He was struggling to locate any of his offspeed stuff. And against a good hitting team like Park River, that makes it tough.”
The Cardinals spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. They had a leadoff baserunner in each inning, whether it was a walk, a hit or an error. Omdahl made big pitches when he needed to, including numerous full-count offerings.
“We like to play a lot of small ball, too, and when you’re down 5-1, that becomes difficult,” Krivarchka said. “And especially with the pitcher they had on the mound today, it just made it tough.”
LA/M senior Theo Romfo, who’d been off to a scalding-hot start, took an 0-for-4 day. He did contribute in the first inning with an RBI groundout, which tied the game at the time. He struck a ball well to center field in the third inning, but it died in the wind and was caught.
“He’s a big-time bat in our lineup,” Krivarchka said. “He hit a few hard today, but they’re pitching him hard, too. He’s a competitor, and he’s a heck of a hitter. So we’re confident whenever he gets up at the plate.”
Cardinals right fielder Dawson Downs made an outfield assist in the sixth, which helped keep the Aggies off the board despite collecting four baserunners in the inning.
“He made some nice plays, and that’s what we expect out of him,” Krivarchka said. “He’s got to make sure that nobody can challenge him.”
Tyson Gemmill took over for Johnson and narrowly held Park River at five runs. He recorded a pair of 3-2 strikeouts in the sixth, stranding the bases loaded. He gave up two hits in the seventh but locked down another 3-2 strikeout.
Omdahl’s baserunners finally caught up with him in the bottom of the sixth. After Landon Schneider and Downs drew walks to help load the bases, Connor Mitchell tapped a little dribbler for an RBI infield single.
Omdahl struck out Johnson for the third time, limiting the damage while stranding the tying runs on base.
“You could tell he was doing a good job of not showing too much frustration with some of the things that were going on,” Coach Omdahl said.
Omdahl managed to go the distance. He was at 119 pitches with two outs in the seventh, when his dad held a brief mound meeting with him. If the next batter had gotten on, he would have had to come out. But he struck out Gemmill to end the game.
“Too many extra outs today,” Coach Omdahl said. “And that led to probably the pitch count being higher than it normally is. But proud of the way he responded and attacked. Just a really great performance.”
These two teams still have another regular-season meeting on their schedules. They’ll face off in Park River on May 7.
Park River has three college-committed seniors: Solseng to Mayville State, T. Omdahl to Alexandria Tech and an injured Isaac Porter to Crookston. The Aggies have one of the better Class B baseball programs in the state.
LA/M is hoping for big things, too, with Romfo leading the way both at the plate and on the mound. Romfo has two home runs already this season after hitting eight last year.
“He’s just a strong, powerful guy with a big swing,” Krivarchka said of Romfo. “There’s not a lot of kids that hit home runs like that. And it’s fun to have him on our team, that’s for sure.”
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