Photo by Noah Clooten
DEVILS LAKE — First-year head coach Steve Anderson and his revamped roster came into this year dead-set on achieving a winning record.
While they’ve fallen short of that, they did pass a worthy milestone Thursday: the most conference wins in a season in program history. The Royals’ baseball program has existed for over a decade, and for the first time, they’ve won nine conference games in a season.
They’d previously reached eight conference wins during the 2016 and 2023 seasons. Last year, they won just four conference games.
“The guys have made it easy, and it’s been them that has led us to this position,” Anderson said. “It feels good. And I know that we’re on the right path. But there’s a lot left to do. So we’re excited to be turning this thing around, and it’s an awesome group of guys to do it with.”
LRSC (12-26, 9-13) split a doubleheader against North Dakota State College of Science (11-21, 7-13) Thursday at DLYA Field. Its four-game conference win streak ended with a 9-5 loss in the opener, but it bounced back in the nightcap with an 8-5 victory.
The Royals took three out of four in the season series over NDSCS.
“It took us just a little bit longer than we wanted to get the bats rolling…Just a couple more plays that we should have made, and maybe that changes the outcome. But I’m proud of the effort we had [in Game 1],” Anderson said. “And then that really fired us up to come out and take Game 2 — a chance to win a series for the first time this year. We really wanted to win a series and not just split. So being able to take three out of four is awesome.”
Game 1: NDSCS 9, LRSC 5
The Royals didn’t have a hit through the first five innings and trailed nearly the entire game. They tied it with a five-run explosion in the sixth, but ultimately fell on the short end after a disastrous seventh.
Bismarck native Tyler Kleinjan got the start on the mound for LRSC. He perfectly executed a pickoff at first base in the first inning, helping him survive a pair of two-out baserunners.
A leadoff single in the second inning was erased on a 5-4-3 double play, but the Wildcats rallied against Kleinjan with two outs. He walked back-to-back hitters to get himself in another jam. This time, NDSCS took the lead on an RBI single by Tori Uhlich and a two-run double by Masen Allmaras. The Royals fell into a 3-0 hole.
The LRSC offense had to contend with Hudson VerSteeg, a 6-foot-6 lefty with a three-quarters arm angle. He struck out seven and didn’t allow an earned run in 5 2/3 innings of work.
Dane Hagler drew a two-out walk against him in the first inning, but VerSteeg struck out two in the frame.
“He had a lot of tail to his fastball,” Anderson said of VerSteeg. “And I think it was just a bit deceiving. It took us a little bit of time to adjust to that.”
The Wildcats added a run in the top of the third on a bloop single after loading the bases. Kleinjan managed to limit the damage with a strikeout of the nine-hitter and a groundout, LRSC trailing 4-0.
VerSteeg retired five straight Royals before leadoff hitter Lucas Lyons worked a two-out walk in the third inning. Kleinjan hit one well to deep right field, but Allmaras made a sliding catch to end the frame.
Left-hander Michael Lindsay relieved Kleinjan after three innings. Kleinjan ultimately allowed four runs on five hits and five walks while striking out two.
Lindsay surrendered a single and a walk to start his outing. The runners advanced into scoring position on a groundout, and a run came home on an infield single to make it 5-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, VerSteeg hit Hugh Montgomery on the foot but struck out the next two. He got two quick outs in the fifth before walking Leif Sigurdson, who then stole second. But Lyons grounded out to strand Sigurdson in scoring position.
Kleinjan lined a 2-2 pitch the other way to break up the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth. Hagler replaced him on a fielder’s choice, then scored all the way from first on a throwing error by the third baseman to get LRSC on the board.
Montgomery, who reached on the error, stole third and then executed a gutsy steal of home. He narrowly slid in safely to score the Royals’ second run. Jamison Nelson cranked a double to the gap anyway. The inning appeared to be over as Jacob Warnke hit a routine ground ball to the second baseman, but a wild throw brought Nelson home and cut the deficit to 5-3.
That ended VerSteeg’s day — though much of the damage in the frame wasn’t by his doing. All the runs against him were unearned.
Logan Dearborn greeted new pitcher Jack Davies rudely, cranking a two-run homer to left field. The Royals emptied the dugout and crowned Dearborn with an astronaut helmet as they formed a mob around him.
The NDSCS dugout was left stunned as the teams went into the seventh inning all knotted up at 5-5.
But it didn’t take long for the Wildcats to reclaim the lead. LRSC stuck with Lindsay, and he immediately found himself in a jam with a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch moved the runner to third.
Luke Mineault, who had just entered the game at second base, made a high throw for an error to put runners on the corners. The Royals then boldly issued an intentional walk to Uhlich that loaded the bases.
“Hot leadoff hitter, and then I just wanted to set the force up all the way around to try to make it easier for us to snag an out somewhere,” Anderson said.
It didn’t pay off. Allmaras poked one through the left side for an RBI single, and a sacrifice bunt added another. Lindsay departed the game after his 3 2/3 innings of work, and Carson Beaudin proceeded to surrender a two-run single.
The inning unraveled on LRSC for a four-spot. The Royals drew a pair of walks in the bottom of the seventh, but to no avail. So their sudden comeback went to waste.
“We did adjust, and we made our run,” Anderson said. “It’s just, we didn’t quite put it all together at the end… Baseball’s hard when you can’t get the starters until the sixth inning.”
Game 2: LRSC 8, NDSCS 5
The Royals have limited Hagler’s innings this season, but they’ve recently started ramping him up more in anticipation of the postseason. He got the start Thursday after throwing a gem against the same team five days ago.
But it got off to a rocky start. The first two Wildcats recorded hits, and the first run scored on a passed ball. Hagler dotted the edges for a strikeout, but he issued a walk and gave up another single to make it 2-0 NDSCS.
Catcher Dayton Christensen threw out a runner trying to steal second to end the frame.
LRSC immediately got one back in the bottom half as Lyons cranked one over the right-center-field wall for a leadoff solo shot. It was his third homer of the season.
With two outs and Kleinjan on second, Brayden Ehnert drove one to the left-center-field gap for an RBI double, tying it up at two apiece.
But the Wildcats were back in business in the second. After a leadoff double, Hagler’s defense did him no favors. Nelson made an error at third base to put runners on the corners. A run scored on a passed ball, and Christensen made a throwing error from behind the plate on the same play to put the other runner on third base.
Uhlich hit an RBI single, and NDSCS led 4-2 after a two-run second.
An RBI single by Kleinjan trimmed the deficit to one in the bottom half, following a pair of two-out free passes.
Hagler still wasn’t quite at his best. He went ahead 0-2 on Ryan Loewe before running the count full and surrendering a leadoff double. But after a sacrifice bunt, Nelson got a force out at the plate, and Hagler escaped the top of the third with no damage.
It was Nelson who provided a key moment in the bottom of the inning as well. After Montgomery and Ehnert reached on a single and a hit by pitch, Nelson legged out an RBI infield single to tie the game. Dearborn lined a single up the middle, and LRSC took the lead.
Lyons added a sacrifice fly, and the Royals led 6-4 after the three-run third.
NDSCS got one back in the fourth on an RBI double by Allmaras. Sigurdson hurt himself trying to get it near the fence and had to exit the game. Hagler locked down a big strikeout with Allmaras on third, keeping LRSC up 6-5.
Hagler helped his own cause by leading off the bottom of the fourth with a triple. Montgomery reached on an error to score Hagler, then stole second and moved to third on another error. Montgomery scored on a double play, extending LRSC’s lead to 8-5.
Another pair of errors kept the inning alive. Beau Brodina, in for the injured Sigurdson, walked to load the bases, but Lyons flew out to finally end the frame.
Hagler worked around a single and an error in the fifth, getting out of the inning with his fourth strikeout. That brought an end to his evening with five runs (four earned) allowed on nine hits and three walks in five innings.
“I think he would tell you that that’s probably not his best outing of the year, but I love the way he competes and is always getting after it,” Anderson said. “He’s such a relentless competitor. Myself and the guys and the coaching staff, we know anytime he’s on the mound we have a chance to win a game. And so I’m proud of his effort and getting us through five strong innings today.”
Parker Simon, who threw a complete-game shutout two days ago, replaced his former North Star teammate Hagler in the sixth.
Uhlich smacked a leadoff hit, but the Royals executed a relay to cut him down trying to stretch it into a double. Simon ended the inning with a strikeout, pumping his fists and roaring as he departed the mound.
He finished the game with a 1-2-3 seventh, striking out the final batter as LRSC ended the night on a high note.
The Royals now head to Minnesota for four games this weekend against Dakota County Technical College. They sit in fifth place in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference, only a game behind Dawson Community College for fourth. Playoffs are only a couple weeks away.
“We’re done yet,” Anderson said. “I think we’re gonna be playing baseball for quite some time yet.”
