CANDO — While the Haglers and Simons were enjoying a cruise, the North Star Bearcats were beating up on the Dunseith Dragons on a windy, drizzly afternoon in North Dakota.
The Bearcats showed on Thursday that they don’t even need their best players against Region V competition. While the two pairs of brothers took some deserving time off after a long basketball season and a quick transition into baseball, their teammates more than held the fort. North Star (3-1, 2-0) beat Dunseith (0-2, 0-2) by a score of 19-7 in a five-inning contest, taking advantage of sloppy fundamentals from the Dragons.
North Star had its own hiccup at the beginning of the game, allowing two runs to come in after multiple wild pitches and an errant throw by the catcher. Left-hander Chas Bisbee struck out three in the inning. His deceptive arm angle kept Dunseith hitters off balance, for the most part, though he occasionally had some trouble hitting his spots.
The floodgates quickly opened in the bottom of the first. The Bearcats scored eight runs on only four hits, with the Dragons committing two errors and allowing a countless number of wild pitches and stolen bases. Ten consecutive Bearcats reached at one point. Alec Peyerl had the go-ahead hit in the middle of the rally. When the first inning was said and done, roughly 40 minutes had gone by and North Star led 8-2.
Bisbee worked around a pair of walks in the second, striking out three more in the inning. The southpaw led off his team’s half of the inning with a walk of his own, which led to five more runs. The Dragons committed two more errors, and Brody Svir had an RBI single. It was 13-2.
Kayden Davis knocked an RBI triple for Dunseith in the top of the third, which was really the first hard-hit ball against Bisbee. From the eye test, Davis looked like Dunseith’s most natural hitter.
Bisbee’s eighth strikeout helped him limit the damage to one run in the inning.
The Bearcats mercifully scored only two runs in the third inning — a brief rally that still included another Dunseith error, two stolen bases and a wild pitch. North Star led 15-3 after three and was in good shape to win by mercy rule (10 or more runs after five innings).
The Dragons’ offense had other ideas in the top of the fourth. A two-run double made it a 10-run game. Bisbee issued three walks in the inning, and Davis recorded his second hit to bring in another pair of runs. It was a four-run frame for Dunseith, cutting North Star’s lead to 15-7.
But the Bearcats made sure to lock up the mercy-rule victory and send everyone home a little earlier with four runs of their own in the bottom half. Garrett Westlind hit an RBI double. The Bearcats kept circling the bases thanks to wild pitches, and to top it all off, a balk brought in North Star’s 19th run of the game.
Svir pitched the final inning. He kept Dunseith off the board, allowing just a walk and a hit by pitch.
Bisbee looked better than his final line would indicate. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs (five earned) on five hits and six walks with nine strikeouts. Command was an issue, especially in the fourth inning. But he showcased a solid breaking ball, and his arm slot was tough for Dunseith hitters to pick up in the first three innings.
North Star’s next game is scheduled for Monday against another Region V opponent, Harvey/Wells County. The meat of its lineup and pitching staff — Dane and Hunter Hagler, and Parker and Karsen Simon — should be back for the more competitive games.
D. Hagler, a Jamestown baseball commit, was dominant in his season pitching debut on April 6. He threw four hitless innings, with all 12 outs via the strikeout. In North Star’s Opening Day victory on April 5, the Simons combined to pitch nine innings with 12 strikeouts and only one earned run allowed.
The baseball season is only just beginning for these Bearcats.
