By Greg DeVillers

Forum News Service

GRAND FORKS — Only five times prior to Sunday had the Grand Forks Royals scored nine or more runs in a game this summer.

On Sunday, the Royals scored nine in one inning.

A nine-run third inning propelled Grand Forks to a 16-8 win against Minot in the loser-out round of the North Dakota Class AA American Legion baseball tournament at Kraft Field.

“We’ve had some big innings this year, but nothing like that,” Royals coach Nick Chine said. “Our bats caught fire. If I could bottle what happened and sell it, I’d be a millionaire. Today we were squaring up, hitting the ball hard and finding holes. And I know it’s a cliche, but hitting is contagious.”

The 21-14 Royals sent 15 batters to the plate in the third inning. Seven players contributed hits, including two each by Coby Tweten and Brenden Bethke.

Bethke drove in two runs in the inning. So did Isaac Burger and Drew Montgomery. Burger grounded a single into right field with the bases loaded to drive in a pair. Montgomery lined a triple into the right-field corner with two runners on base.

“Those were kind of the knockout blows,” Chine said of the Burger and Montgomery hits.

And the hitting was done against one of Minot’s better pitchers, starter Alex Schimke.

“He’s probably our No. 2,” Minot coach Pat Arntson said. “We had the guy we wanted out there. He’s been really good. But they had his number.

“When you (give up nine in an inning), that’s tough to overcome. And, in the second half of the season, eight runs is actually one of our better offensive performances. But every time we closed the gap a little, they stretched it back out.”

That, even more than the big inning, was the key to the win, Chine said.

Minot scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning; Grand Forks answered with three in the top of the sixth. When Minot scored three in the bottom of the sixth, the Royals scored two in the top of the seventh.

“When they counterpunched and scored, we’d punch back and get a couple of runs back,” Chine said. “We haven’t always done that.”

Bethke and Parker Stroh each went 4-for-5 to lead the Royals’ 19-hit attack. Tweten added three hits.

Minot had 12 hits, with most of those bunched in the middle of the lineup. Kyler Stenberg hitting third, Schimke fourth and Jack Plemel fifth had three hits each. Schimke drove in four runs.