Sports

DCB baseball opens season out of ND

By Tyler Ohmann

03/27/2012

The Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks baseball season began March 13-16 with a spring trip to Florida.

The trip pitted the Jacks in seven match-ups against schools from around the country and Canada.

Jacks sophomore Hayden Johnson was happy about the experience the team gained from the trip to Florida, despite going 1-6 over the week.

“It was great, playing down there was awesome. I’ve never done anything like that,” Johnson said.

DCB kicked off their spring trip to Florida on a good note, snapping up a win in their first game 8-6 over the Ontario Blue Jays A.

The Jacks used a six-run first inning to gain momentum and held off Ontario by scoring once in the second and the fifth.

J.J Dukes got the win for DCB after hurling six innings, where he allowed three earned runs on five hits and had two strikeouts and and only one walk.

Tyler Storseth earned the save as he pitched a scoreless seventh inning, striking out two batters and not allowing a base runner.

Offensively sophomore Wade Haight rapped two base hits for the Jacks and drove in a run. Zack McBeain scored three times in the victory.

The day one win over Ontario would be the only taste of victory on the trip for the Jacks.

However, Head Coach Eric Kester-Mabon was happy with the Jacks pitching over the trip.

“So far I’ve been happy with the way guys have performed on the mound,” Kester-Mabon said. “Especially since it’s been early on. Guys have thrown strikes and worked well on the mound for us.”

Northern Iowa challenged the Jacks in their second game, which finished with a 7-2 loss for the Jacks.

Tyias Huck went four innings on the mound and was stuck with the loss despite only allowing one earned run. The Jacks had five errors in the game.

The Jacks scored both of their runs in the second inning as Haight and Storseth drove in Huck and Cody Benson.

Benson had two hits to lead DCB.

Kester-Mabon was pleased with the Jacks performances in the two games on the first day.

“Overall it was a good first day on the field,” Kester-Mabon stated. “We played hard both games and had some very impressive performances coupled with some very evident signs of rust.”

The second day made way for two more losses for the Jacks as they fell 13-0 to Massassoits and 6-1 to Riverland Community College.

The Massassoits game was broken open in the third inning as three Jacks pitchers combined to give up 11 runs in the inning.

The Jacks were shut down on offense as well on the day as Benson mustered the only hit of the game for DCB.

Game two of day two went a little better for the Jacks as they had their best defensive effort of the trip committing only one error in the 6-1 loss.

Storseth started for DCB and allowed four earned runs on six hits in five innings. He also struck out four Riverland batters.

Huck drove in Patrick Gates on a sacrifice for the lone Jacks run in the loss.

Gates had two hits to lead the Jacks from the plate.
Johnson was happy with the defensive effort, and believes the Jacks are much improved in that area this year.

“I think compared to last year, our defense is going to be better, last year we had some weak spots,” Johnson said. “I think our pitching will be better too, pretty much everything is quite a bit better.”

DCB lost another pair of games on day three as they fell 11-3 to Quebec and 15-0 to Ontario Blue Jays B.
Hayden Johnson was tagged with the loss against Quebec. No stats were available from either game.
The Jacks closed out their trip on with a tough 8-3 loss to Riverland, the second loss to the team during the trip.

Riverland cinched the game with a five-run fourth inning, which knocked DCB’s starter Huck out the of the game. Huck finished with allowing six earned runs on three hits in 3 and 2/3 innings.

Gates, Storseth and Haight each had a pair of hits in the contest and Johnson drove in two runs to lead the Jacks from the plate.

Johnson also had two hits in the game, including a triple.

The offense Kester-Mabon said will hopefully turn around, that was the one thing he felt was lacking on the trip.

“We have some guys that play defense for us, and hopefully the offense comes along,” Kester-Mabon said. “We have some guys that have the potential to drive the ball to the gaps, and as soon as they figure that out I think we’ll really start clicking.”

Kester-Mabon took away at least one big thing from the 1-6 trip.

“The biggest positive that I took from Florida is that, when guys were fresh and on the mound early in the game, they were throwing strikes,” Kester-Mabon said.
After returning from the trip the Jacks were excited to see that the snow was completely gone off their field, something they didn’t get to see until May last season.
“Last year this time we were staring at three feet of snow on the diamond,” Kester-Mabon said. “So, to see any grass is a blessing.”

Johnson too was delighted with the weather, something the second baseman knows is pretty unusual.

“It is never like this here, so it was something completely different than usual,” Johnson said. “It is great to be outside before this Miles City tournament. Last year our first moments outside were at the games there.”

The Jacks moved along to play in the Miles City Tournament last weekend in Miles City, Mont.
No stats or results were available by press time, but Johnson was happy just to be outside before that tourney.  

“Miles City is always tough, but we should be competitive with Williston and Bismarck. We should do well against (them),” Johnson added.

The Jacks are excited to get into the season against their MonDak opponents as they beat a tough Williston State team in an exhibition last fall in Bottineau.

“Williston brought in some talented guys, and we wound up beating them, and as long as we stay injury free, we have a good core of guys, and we’ll be able to win them games this year,” Kester-Mabon said.
“We are going to be out on the field a month before we did last year. That is a huge positive to be out on the field everyday,” Kester-Mabon said. “In addition to the fact that 12 of our guys have seven games under their belt.”

Results and stats from that tournament will be in next week’s Bottineau Courant.

The Jacks travel back to Miles City to play again on March 31 and April 1.