BOTTINEAU — The Bearcats couldn’t get their bats going after taking a week off for the Babe Ruth region tournament.
The result was an upset loss to begin the District 3 Legion baseball tournament.
No. 3 seed Cando Post 79 (7-9) mustered only five hits in a 6-2 defeat to No. 6 seed Rolla Post 235 on Monday at the Lumberyard in Bottineau. They manufactured a pair of runs in the middle innings but couldn’t keep that momentum going into the later frames.
Rolla pitcher Jonny Mears struck out nine in a complete-game effort.
“He’s a decent pitcher. Jonny throws strikes, and you’ve got to be ready. He mixes in a curveball every once in a while,” Cando head coach Jesse Vote said. “But we can’t be 3-for-12 with our top three, four guys. … Pretty poor effort on our end of things. We had some plays on defense that I think we didn’t give a whole lot of effort on. We probably deserved to lose.”
JD DuPreez started for Cando and turned in four-plus innings. For most of the outing, he was effectively wild.
DuPreez had to deal with traffic all afternoon. Rolla had the bases loaded with one out in the first inning, and DuPreez was able to get a key strikeout en route to escaping the jam. In the top of the third, with runners on the corners and two outs, Rolla scored first on a wild pitch. DuPreez struck out two in a scoreless fourth.
Cando’s lineup had a two-out baserunner in each of the first two innings, but the Bearcats didn’t record a hit until Brody Svir blooped a leadoff single in the third.
Svir stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. That set up an RBI opportunity for Ian Westlind, who drove in Svir with a groundout to tie the game.
The Bearcats manufactured another run in similar fashion in the fourth inning. Kale Prouty hit a leadoff single; he promptly stole two bases and scored on a wild pitch. His effort on the bases gave Cando a 2-1 lead.
“If we can get on base, we’re gonna run,” Vote said. “But you’ve got to get there in order for that to happen.”
DuPreez, who issued a leadoff walk in four of the first five innings, finally saw the baserunners catch up with him. Rolla loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth. After throwing a wild pitch that allowed Rolla to tie, it, DuPreez’s day on the mound came to an end.
“I hate to say it, but you can’t walk the first guy of every inning,” Vote said. “Eventually, it’s gonna catch up to you. They’re gonna put balls in play, and we’re gonna give up runs. And, I mean, he knows it. He’s got to throw strikes and let our defense work.”
Svir took over. Two more runs scored on a passed ball and a single, despite Svir inducing two key ground balls in between. It was a three-run frame for Rolla to take a 4-2 lead. All four runs were charged to DuPreez, who struck out five, walked four and hit a batter while allowing five hits.
Rolla rallied for an insurance run against Svir in the sixth. He came out with two on and two outs in the seventh. A hit batsman by Tavin Knudson forced in another run to make it 6-2 Rolla.
The 3-4-5 hitters in Cando’s hitters went down in order in the bottom of the sixth. Alec Peyerl kept the game alive with a two-out single in the seventh, but two Bearcats struck out in the final frame as Mears completed the victory.
“Pretty disappointing,” Vote said. “Now you’ve got to come in through the losers’ bracket, and every game you’ve got to win.”
Cando moves to a Tuesday matchup with No. 7 seed Harvey at 12:30 p.m., with a 5:30 p.m. game the same day to follow if the Bearcats win.
They need to reverse course quickly.
“We’ve got older guys with experience. You get into summer, and you’ve got guys gone for this and guys gone for that,” Vote said. “Two weeks ago, we had everybody for the first time since June. … We were hitting the ball pretty well up to that point. And we’ve obviously lost it.”
Rolla advanced to a 10 a.m. winners’ bracket game against No. 2 seed Velva on Tuesday.
Other scores from Monday in Bottineau
Bottineau 4, Rugby 1
Velva 13, Harvey 3