Lake Region State College baseball wrapped up a busy stretch with two more games in Devils Lake on Monday, giving it six games in a three-day span. The Royals bounced back from their two losses on Sunday with a 7-0 win in Game 1 against North Dakota State College of Science, thanks to a shutout from Hunter Brodina. They fell in Game 2, 9-0. They finished 3-3 over the three days of madness.
Brodina had a similarly dominant outing on April 6, when he fired 8 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He threw seven innings this time around, allowing four hits and four walks while striking out six. He permitted at least one baserunner in each of the first six innings, but found a way to navigate through traffic each time.
He finished his day with a perfect seventh, putting the final hammer down on a pitching masterpiece.
Brodina is a freshman out of Bemidji High School in Minnesota, and a cousin of Devils Lake’s Brodina family, which recently enjoyed a historic basketball season. Another one of Brodina’s cousins, Brady Omdahl, plays for the Royals as well.
Offensively, LRSC got most of its production in the fifth. Speaking of Omdahl, he hit a grand slam that made it 7-0. The Royals drew a trio of free passes in the inning, and the frame spiraled from there.
LRSC’s other two runs came back in the second inning on a home run by Brady Ehnert.
The second game was nearly a complete inverse, as the Wildcats generated all the offense and the Royals were shut out. LRSC starter Lane Kinsella allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings, while Jacob Ripplinger surrendered five two-out runs in the sixth.
The Royals only collected three hits in the game — one from each of Ronald Nelson, Marshall Herman and Ehnert. They added three walks, two of which were drawn by Brodina.
The baseball team is now 8-24 overall and 3-15 in conference games. It sits in sixth place out of seven teams in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference.
The softball team played a doubleheader against NDSCS on Monday as well. The Wildcats are in first place in softball, and they took down the Royals 6-0 and 11-2. It ended LRSC’s four-game winning streak.
