Alex Eisen/MDN Bishop Ryan senior Joey Zeece gets hit by a pitch in the sixth inning of a first round Class B state baseball tournament contest against Carrington on Thursday at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown.

JAMESTOWN – No. 5-ranked Bishop Ryan had a forgettable opening day at the Class B state baseball tournament in Jamestown.

In the words of head coach Fred Nelson, “We are a better team than that and we know that. That’s the disappointment. We are better than that and now people here don’t know that. They think that’s what we are, and that’s the talk we just had (after the loss).”

The Lions fell 8-2 to No. 4-ranked Carrington on Thursday at Jack Brown Stadium, being outhit 15-5, to have their hopes of winning a state championship fade away.

“Shoot, 15 hits and zero errors for them,” Nelson said. “And we had five hits and four errors. That’s where it went wrong.”

Carrington came out of the gate swinging with eight hits in the first three innings. But, only mustered one run. Bishop Ryan senior pitcher Eli Stewart worked out of trouble again and again, including two bases loaded jams.

Stewart then turned around and used his bat to break up Carrington’s Kyle Leapaldt no-hit bid in the third inning. The Lions had a chance to even the score at 1-1 later in the inning, but shortstop Braxten Hewitt made a diving stop and threw over to second base to get the force out for the final out as Stewart crossed home plate from third base on the play.

The Cardinals extend their lead in the fourth inning with an RBI double from Jayden Rosenau to left center and Stewart had a bad pick-off throw to first base that got away to bring in another run.

Untimely mistakes like that haunted Ryan the entire game.

“We had some young kids that had to get plugged into the game for different injuries and things like that, and I’m not making excuses for anybody,” Nelson said. “But, it’s a bigger stage and not everyone has been there yet. It was something new for a lot of people.”

This was the Lions’ first appearance at the state tournament since 2013.

With Cardinals on the corners in the bottom of the sixth, Hewitt drilled a ball into the gap in left center for a triple and cleared the bases. Carrington then added three more runs in the inning after a suicide squeeze, a Rosenau RBI single and a throwing error into the outfield as Rosenau stole second base.

Having an 8-0 lead going into the seventh inning, Leapaldt was replaced by Drew Page on the mound. Leapaldt gave up three hits on 72 pitches. Page didn’t have that same kind of success.

Ryan avoided the shutout with a passed ball plating Cole Dauphinais and Shean Caden came home on a two-out RBI single from Stewart, 8-2.

Stewart pitched a complete game for Ryan, allowing 15 hits and the eight runs. But, only half of the runs were earned. He threw 110 pitches.

Six players for Carrington had multiple hits. Payton Smith went 4-for-4 with two runs, Rosenau 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Hewitt drove in a pair as well by going 2-for-4 with his triple. Lucas Geiszler and Trey Rosenau also had two hits.

Carrington moves on to the state semifinals where No. 1-seeded Thompson awaits.

As for Ryan, the Lions drop to the consolation side of the bracket and will face unseeded Rugby this afternoon at 2 p.m. Rugby lost to Thompson in its first-round game on Thursday, 7-2.

“We got to bounce back tomorrow and prove to people that we are supposed to be here,” Nelson said. “It’s tough when you can’t win a state championship anymore after losing that first one. We got to get motivated, come back and want to win some baseball games here the last two days of the season.”

Alex Eisen covers Minot High School, Minot State athletics and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

Kindred-Richland 5, Shiloh Christian 1

One big inning did the trick for Kindred-Richland.

The right arms of Brandon Roesler and Ethan Lingen also played a key part in the Vikings’ 5-1 win over Bismarck Shiloh Christian in the first round of the North Dakota Class B state baseball tournament on Thursday.

“I’m glad we finally went and got our bats out of the bus for the fifth inning,” joked Kindred-Richland coach Scott Milbrandt. “We hadn’t done much up until that point. Give their pitcher (Cole Baumiller) credit. We couldn’t get much going against him.”

The Vikings broke through for five runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth. Two runs scored on an error and another on a misplayed pop-up that landed untouched in the middle of the diamond.

Roesler and Lingen, the Vikings’ hard-throwing senior duo, combined to allow just three hits. Roesler went the first five and Lingen needed just 21 pitches to get the last six outs.

“It’s a nice luxury to have two pitchers like that,” Milbrandt said. “Defensively, we’ve played pretty well behind them, but they also have the ability to take care of it themselves.”

Nicky Zink and Evan Waskom each had two hits for the Vikings, who improved to 28-1.

“Our kids have high goals, but you have to win the first one before you do anything else,” Milbrandt said. “Coach Lee had his team ready to play today. It was a good ballgame and we’re happy to advance.”

–Forum News Service

Thompson 7, Rugby 2

Thompson is used to wearing the bull’s eye. Turns out, it fits the Tommies just fine.

The defending Class B champions remained undefeated with a 7-2 win over Rugby in the state quarterfinals.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but we don’t really worry about. We just try to focus on each game and play our best,” said junior ace pitcher Tyler Hegg. “It’s been working for us so we just stick with that approach.”

Three runs in the bottom of the sixth provided Thompson with some breathing room.

“We expected Rugby to come out and play well and they did,” said Thompson coach Brady Schwab. “These state tournament games don’t come easy. You gotta grind them out and I’m proud of our kids for being able to do that today.”

Hegg pitched into the sixth inning, registering six strikeouts. Marcus Hughes got the last five outs to earn the save. Hughes also had two hits and scored twice.

“I was just trying to get ahead and make quality pitches,” said Hegg, a junior. “All the teams here are good. We’re happy to win and stay in the winner’s bracket.”

Kyle Ebach had two of Rugby’s five hits.

–Forum News Service