Photo via New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School
The Class B state baseball tournament got off to a sluggish start on Thursday in Jamestown. The first game of the day, between Thompson and Des Lacs-Burlington, was interrupted by two rain delays and ended up being a 14-0 run-rule beatdown.
But for any fans who thought they might not be getting their money’s worth, the Sheyenne-New Rockford Black Sox certainly put on a show to behold in the second game of the day.
The Black Sox have made real strides just to be in the state tournament. They had a losing season last year, then needed to win a do-or-die state qualifier game to get here. But now they’re in, and they competed and persevered through an 11-inning thriller against Des Lacs-Burlington on Thursday — a team that had only lost two games all season.
No. 5-seeded S-NR (13-7) beat the No. 4-seeded Lakers (22-3) by a score of 3-2. Starting pitching was stellar on both sides, including the Black Sox’ Keaton Cudworth. Connor Knatterud also gave them a fantastic effort in relief, helping them hold on to barely pull out the victory.
The Lakers, who aren’t used to losing, struck first with two runs in the third inning. Cudworth allowed a single, made an error and issued a walk and a wild pitch in the frame. Both runs came in on sacrifice flies, and the Black Sox were in a 2-0 hole.
DL-B committed three errors in the first two innings, but the S-NR offense couldn’t capitalize. Lakers starting pitcher Paxton Ystaas was perfect in the third and fourth innings, including the latter where he struck out the side. S-NR’s Easton Simon broke a streak of eight straight retired with a single in the fifth, but Knatterud grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Then the sixth inning happened. Thomas Allmaras and Cudworth both reached, and they came around to score on an error by the first baseman. Despite how effective Ystaas had been, his defense really let him down.
That was the last run for either team until the inning number reached double digits.
Cudworth wound up going seven strong innings. Both the runs against him were unearned, and he allowed four hits while striking out four. He walked six, but was able to be effectively wild. He threw a whopping 114 pitches (65 for strikes).
Ystaas was even better. Like Cudworth, both the runs were unearned. So, had the defense been spotless on both sides, it theoretically would have been 0-0 at the end of regulation instead of 2-2. Ystaas only permitted three hits and two walks while striking out nine. He made it through nine innings while limiting his pitch count to 120.
The importance of Knatterud’s relief outing can’t be understated. He ended up going four innings after replacing Cudworth, and he only allowed one hit. He struck out three, walked one and threw 51 pitches.
The extra innings zapped by with rapid acceleration at first. Allmaras committed the third S-NR error of the game in the eighth, but it was quickly erased on a double play. The Black Sox had a leadoff hit by pitch but nothing more in the ninth, and the teams combined to retire the next 11 batters.
Brody Weisenburger got things going in the 11th for S-NR with a leadoff single. The family name carried on two batters later, as Alex Weisenburger doubled to left-center field. B. Weisenburger had to hold up at third. But he scored two pitches later on a single by Bradyn Collier.
The Black Sox led 3-2. And that proved to be the difference in the game.
With a runner on third and still only one out, they failed to capitalize and get any more runs. But Knatterud shut the door in the bottom of the 11th. He allowed just a one-out single, finishing the game in relatively stress-free fashion.
The win advanced S-NR to a semifinal matchup against No. 1 Thompson, which will enter play with an intimidating 24-1 record. The Black Sox and Tommies are scheduled to face off on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
