Tommies pitcher Clay Odenbach throws a heater toward home in the first pitch of Friday's N.D. State Class B baseball semifinals game against Enderlin/Maple Valley at Newman Outdoor Stadium in Fargo. Nick Nelson / Grand Forks Herald

FARGO (FNS) — Clay Odenbach got a pitching win Friday. Unofficially, he also got a save on the mound.

The junior left-hander threw six innings — five at the start of the game and one at the end — as Thompson defeated Enderlin-Maple Valley 5-4 in the semifinals of the North Dakota Class B state baseball tournament at Newman Outdoor Field.

Odenbach went the first five innings, allowing just one hit. He gave up four unearned runs, three of them in the fifth inning. Marcus Hughes struck out the side in relief of Odenbach in the sixth inning.

But Odenbach, with 11 pitches left before reaching his maximum pitch count, came back in for the seventh. He finished the game with two infield pop ups sandwiched around his 12th strikeout of the game.

“I should get both (a win and a save) for that,” Odenbach said, smiling. “Have to talk to the rules makers about it. He (Thompson coach Brady Schwab) told me I’d probably come back in at some point because I had 11 pitches left.”

Scoring rules don’t allow a pitcher to save a game he wins.

“Tell him to quit being greedy,” Schwab said. “I thought he threw really well. Both pitchers found their groove.”

Thompson got Odenbach a quick lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Cadyn Schwabe led off with a double and wound up on third on an error. Hughes followed by popping an RBI double to left. After Odenbach was hit by a pitch, Hayden Overby tripled deep into the gap in right-center field to drive home two runs.

Enderlin-Maple Valley got a run without benefit of a hit in the fourth. Jacob Johnson drew a leadoff walk and took advantage of two errors sandwiched around a passed ball.

Thompson scored two unearned runs in the fourth. The Falcons pulled within one with three runs in the fifth, including E-MV’s lone hit, a run-scoring single by losing pitcher Chance Bye. Three Tommies errors and two walks contributed to the big inning.

“Sometimes that’s how it goes,” Odenbach said of all the unearned runs. “It all started out with an error on me.”

Bye threw a complete game, striking out 11 while allowing six hits.

“We had a lot of quality at-bats (early),” Schwab said. “But we got away from our game plan. Part of that is Chance Bye. He’s a good pitcher. ”