Sports

DCB splits season-opening twin bill

By Staff reports

03/17/2015

BISMARCK - The Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) baseball team was originally scheduled to open its 2015 season in Glendive, Mont., on March 27-28.

However, that changed last week when the Lumberjacks added two games to their schedule. Bismarck State (BSC), a Mon-Dak Conference  rival of DCB’s, had a turf field that was playable, so the teams arranged to play a doubleheader last Tuesday.

BSC won the first game of the twin bill by a 10-6 count. Sophomore DCB pitcher Nick Riglin was his team’s opening-day starter, lasted three and two-thirds’ innings and picked up the loss.

DCB found itself tied with the Mystics at 2-2 going into the bottom of the third inning, but BSC then scored three quick runs to blow the game open. The Mystics then scored twice more in the fourth inning and picked up another three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Lumberjacks picked up six runs on as many hits in the game. Six different DCB players had base hits, and Jonathan Torres, Alejandro Era and Isaac Madrid all finished with one run batted in apiece.

In the second game of the doubleheader, DCB outlasted the Mystics 9-8 in a 10-inning game. The Lumberjacks found themselves up 8-2 early on thanks to a seven-run second inning, but six BSC runs in the bottom of the third tied the game up.

The scoreboard remained stuck at 8-8 until the top of the 10th inning when DCB pushed its ninth run of the game across home plate.

The Mystics were unable to respond in kind in the bottom of the 10th inning, thus handing DCB its first win of the year.

DCB freshman pitcher Michael Choy started on the mound in the second game of the day. He lasted for eight innings and struck out nine Mystics batters before Bottineau freshman Lee Schneider came in in relief and picked up the win.

Sophomore Jesse Turner and freshman Anthony Simmons were the Jacks’ most productive batsmen in the rematch. Both of them finished with two hits apiece from their combined nine times at-bats.

Turner finished 2-for-5 at the plate and scored twice in the game. Simmons connected twice in his four at-bats and scored once.
Era also had another solid outing, scoring twice and also driving in a pair of Lumberjacks runs.

DCB (1-1) is idle this week before heading to Montana next weekend for the 2015 Dawson Community College Tournament. The Lumberjacks will face Dawson and Williston State on March 28 before playing the same two teams again on March 29.

The Lumberjacks will then face Williston State again in Williston on April 3 before hosting the Tetons for a doubleheader on April 4.