Alex Eisen/MDN Velva/Drake-Anamoose sophomore Michael Thomas (21) slides into second base before Rugby junior Mayson McCabe can apply the tag Friday afternoon in a state consolation semifinal game at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown. VDA won 8-7 to advance to the fifth-place game today at 2 p.m. against Des Lacs-Burlington.

JAMESTOWN — Park River-Fordville-Lankin hitters flexed their muscles Friday, June 1, during the first inning of the North Dakota Class B state baseball tournament semifinals.

The Aggies blasted two home runs over Jack Brown Stadium’s right-field fence en route to a 9-2 victory against Carrington.

PR-F-L will play top-seeded Thompson on Saturday, June 2, in the Class B state finals at 7 p.m. — a rematch of last season’s title game — while Carrington faces Beulah in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.

“It feels great heading into the finals, especially after the start we had in Game 2 today,” said PR-F-L baseball coach Brett Ondahl. “It was unbelievable how the guys came out and took the momentum right away.”

Adam Zavalney drove in his brother, Nathan, with a two-run home run three hitters into the contest. The Aggies later used an error, walk and single to load the bases for Bryce Wood, who hit a grand slam to nearly the same spot.

The two long balls in the first was all it took as Nick Zavalney was dominant during his three frames on the mound after only allowing two hits and striking out five of the 11 Carrington hitters he faced.

Jacob Erovick and Nicholas Thompson pitched the remaining four innings with both combining to allow one run on a single hit.

The best news for Omdahl is that every pitcher will be available for Saturday’s state championship, despite going a full seven innings with the Cardinals.

Carrington pitcher Kyle Leapaldt started. After the rough first inning, the junior settled in more and limited PR-F-L to two runs for the remainder of the game.

With a 7-0 hole, Carrington tried to chip away with runners in scoring position during the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings but could only muster two runs off an error and fielder’s choice.

Thompson 10, Beulah 2

With a storm moving towards Jack Brown Stadium, Thompson caused a monsoon of its own.

The Tommies used a five-run, fifth inning to retake the lead over Beulah and fuel a 10-2 victory in the other semifinal game.

“I thought we pressured the defense all game, like in the first inning where we left the bases loaded,” said Tommies coach Brady Schwab. “In that fifth inning we just kept pressuring, were able to break through with a couple hits and they had a couple mistakes we took advantage of.”

The mistake Schwab is referring to was a hard-hit ball that Beulah pitcher Aaron Vallejo just got a piece of and took a bad hop on second basemen Dawson Bieber. The ball went into left-center field to score two runs and give Thompson a 4-2 lead.

The Tommies poured it on thereafter, scoring on a rundown at first base and a chopper that went well over first baseman Korey Rueb’s head to extend the lead to 6-2.

The Miners started throwing the ball around in the sixth inning and that resulted in four more runs to cross home plate and put the game well out of reach.