Alex Weisenburger (Photo courtesy of New Rockford Transcript)
NEW ROCKFORD — The New Rockford-Sheyenne Rockets locked down a cross-region victory over Nelson County to complete their regular season on Saturday.
The Rockets (8-7, 3-5) scored 12 unanswered runs in a 12-4 victory over the Chargers (6-7, 5-4). They bounced back from Thursday’s 16-5 loss to LaMoure-Litchville/Marion, finishing on a high note before they head into next week’s region tournament.
“We had a tough one on Thursday against LaMoure, so coming back today, we wanted to get a good taste back in our mouth,” NR-S head coach Dave Skogen said. “Dug ourselves a quick hole early. Faced some adversity. But we fought back.”
The Rockets are looking to return to the Class B state tournament, where they made it and finished fourth last year.
“We’ve got four guys in the lineup who’ve played no varsity baseball,” Skogen said. “We lost our cleanup hitter due to a pec injury in wrestling. We’ve only got one senior on the field, so we’re young. We’ve progressed very well, both from a fielding standpoint, confidence standpoint, and even just learning-the-game standpoint.”
A well-rounded offensive performance and a strong relief outing from junior Alex Weisenburger fueled the Rockets’ engines on Saturday, overcoming a three-run top of the first for Nelson County.
Junior Easton Simon, a state-champion quarterback and all-state-tournament point guard, got the start on the mound for the Rockets. He flung in a heavy dose of 12-6 breakers to try to keep the Chargers off balance.
The very first pitch he threw was hit for a single by eighth-grader Caleb Rainsberry, who advanced to second on an error by the right fielder. A soft, unlucky dinker to the left side put runners on the corners.
The Chargers got three runs out of their good fortune, with an RBI single by Landon Sundeen and RBI groundouts from Gage Flaagan and John Molina.
But the Rockets wasted little time storming back. The wind was making pop-ups adventurous; first baseman Sundeen caught one for the first out, but a dropped ball in shallow right by second baseman Lakin Ronningen ignited NR-S’ early rally. Simon singled, and Weisenburger drew a walk to load the bases.
Shortstop Brody Rainsberry made a nice flip on a fielder’s choice, but the strong defensive play was sandwiched by a pair of singles. Bradyn Collier got NR-S on the board, and with two outs, Dashyl Bichler lined a two-run single to boost the Rockets ahead 4-3.
Nelson County head coach Logan Lund pulled his team aside after the four-run frame. He emphasized the effect the wind was having on fly balls and tried to fire some energy back into his squad.
But Simon set down the Chargers 1-2-3 in the next frame. That ended an abbreviated day for Simon on the bump, as Skogen had him on an inning limit. He threw 32 pitches (24 strikes), allowing three runs in two innings with one strikeout and no walks. He’s been a valuable presence in NR-S’s rotation all season.
“Fantastic. He spots really well. Throws strikes, gets after it,” Skogen said of Simon. “Guys don’t get a lot of good contact off him. Showed it again today.”
Weisenburger, who was playing catcher, took the mound while Simon shifted to third. Right away, a ball was hit sharply at Simon, which he booted for an error. Weisenburger pumped a called strike three past Hanson to strand the potential tying run at second base. He attacked hitters with more of a three-quarters delivery than Simon’s over-the-top motion.
“He hasn’t thrown in a while; we had to make some changes due to some injuries,” Skogen said of Weisenburger. “He’s been catching. His arm’s a little sore. Coming into the season, he was probably gonna be our No. 2 guy. He hasn’t thrown much for pitches in about a month.”
Flaagan, meanwhile, made a nice pickoff move to get through the second inning, but things got away from him in the bottom of the third. He hit back-to-back hitters, and a three-base throwing error by third baseman Molina brought in both runners. Bichler added his second hit and third RBI of the day to extend the Rockets’ cushion to 7-3.
“As far as our lineup goes, he’s struggled the most, unfortunately, out of anybody,” Skogen said of Bichler, who batted seventh in the lineup. “It’s not lack of effort… Great for him to start building some confidence ahead of the region tournament.”
The frame ended on a hard line drive by Vincent Ruppell, as Ronningen snagged it and stepped on second for the double play.
A two-out, two-base error by Ruppell in the fourth almost gave the Chargers a chance to get back into it. Weisenburger hit batters on back-to-back pitches to load the bases, prompting a mound visit by Skogen.
Weisenburger induced a key-pop from B. Rainsberry to get out of trouble.
He found himself in another bases-loaded pickle in the fifth after issuing the sixth hit-by-pitch of the game (fourth by NR-S). With one out, he recorded a strikeout of Ronningen and a groundout by Sy Maresh to keep the Chargers off the board.
The Rockets tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth, following a triple by Skye Kramlich and a clutch two-out hit from Simon. It could have been even more, but Thomas Allmaras was thrown out trying to advance to third after stealing second base.
Flaagan’s day on the mound came to its conclusion after he issued a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth. Layton Jacobson greeted new pitcher Brendan Lenz with an RBI triple, and he scored on an error at third base. Allmaras added an RBI comebacker to the pitcher, making it an 11-3 rout.
Lenz issued three straight walks to start the bottom of the sixth, and NR-S grabbed one more run on a bases-loaded hit by pitch by Ruppell. That gave the Rockets three hit-by-pitches on their side after issuing four on the pitching side. NR-S scored in five of its six offensive innings.
Nelson County got one back on a passed ball in the seventh, with Flaagan scoring after he led off with a single. Weisenburger otherwise finished off five strong innings of relief. He allowed only one run on three hits while striking out six and walking two.
“To come in and throw the way he did, got back on track, looked really good today,” Skogen said of Weisenburger.
The Region 3 tournament is set for May 15-21 at LaMoure High School. Nelson County, meanwhile, has games on May 12 and 13 before playing in the Region 2 tournament in Thompson.
The Rockets got the confidence back that they needed before diving into postseason play.
“If you asked me Thursday where we were going into the region tournament, I wouldn’t have felt so good,” Skogen said. “After today, we’re back on track with where we were before Thursday.”
