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Tonini dazzles in debut, Sabre Dogs win late-night affair

Alex Eisen/MDN A group of Sabre Dogs passing the time in the dugout during Thursday's weather delay at Corbett Field.

The waiting game lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes before the first pitch was thrown out by Carson Tonini. Heavy rain and lightning delayed his Souris Valley Sabre Dogs debut Thursday evening at Corbett Field.

Minot State redshirt freshman Tonini, who was playing for the American Legion Class A Minot Vistas before their season ended last week, got the nod to start for the Sabre Dogs.

Tonini squared off against fellow Minot State hurler Dominick Parkhurst, who was the starting pitcher for the Pierre Trappers.

The Sabre Dogs (35-26, 19-12 second half) were unable to get Tonini a victory after a stellar performance, but still managed to beat the Trappers (31-29, 17-13 second half) on Thursday, 9-5, in a critical late-season Expedition League contest.

“That’s a good arm,” Sabre Dogs head coach Corey Thompson said about Tonini. “I wish he was here from the start, that’s just a really good arm. I don’t know what else to say. Could be one of the best arms in the league, we don’t know. But that was a really good outing and something that we needed.”

Tonini was locked in and lighting up the radar gun from the get-go. He threw a 1-2-3 top of the first inning with a pair of strikeouts. Two more punchouts came in the second and third innings; the home crowd was egging him on the entire time.

“The ball was slippery, so I couldn’t tell you (if I was throwing extra hard),” Tonini said. “I was having trouble getting my grip on some of the pitches, but I made them when they count.”

Parkhurst matched by putting up his own zeros on the scoreboard. Well, until the third inning. RBI hits by Crews Taylor and Josh Paino, plus an RBI sacrifice fly by Bo McClintock put the Sabre Dogs ahead 3-0.

Sticking to a dominating pattern, Tonini picked up two more strikeouts in the fourth inning and got an over-the-shoulder catch in shallow left field by third baseman Jase Edwards.

The Sabre Dogs eighth hit came in the fourth inning and was an RBI single by Phillip Childs to extend the lead to 4-0.

“With Mason (Dinesen) and Chauncey (Callier) not in the lineup, I thought it was going to be a struggle,” Thompson said. “But we had 14 hits, so that was fun to see. These guys aren’t going to quit.”

Tonini’s 10th strikeout pounded the strike zone in the fifth inning. Again, matching his quota of two strikeouts per inning.

As if Tonini’s fireworks on the mound weren’t enough, Taylor uncorked a towering solo home run into the trees next to the scoreboard in the bottom half of the fifth inning, 5-0.

It was Taylor’s 10th home run of the season.

Returning to the Tonini show, the right-handed hurler capped his sixth scoreless inning with strikeout No. 11 after giving up a second hit to the Trappers.

“I think I pitched better with the Sabre Dogs (than with the Vistas) because if I mess up, there is a bigger price to pay,” Tonini said.

That was the end of Tonini’s night, as the Sabre Dogs turned to the bullpen and brought in Matt Sartwell, another Minot State pitcher.

Facing a new arm is precisely what the Trappers needed. They loaded the bases with no outs against Sartwell in the seventh.

Trappers’ Niko Piazza took advantage by blasting a grand slam out of Corbett Field to cut the deficit to a single run, 5-4.

After putting two more runners on base without recording an out, Sartwell was replaced by Chase Grillo. Before heading to the bottom of the seventh, Pierre picked up an RBI sacrifice fly by Ken Scott to knot the score at 5-5.

The Sabre Dogs took the lead back in the bottom half. A routine grounder by Sam Powers skipped off the wet turf and past the Trappers second baseman to bring in a run. That was followed by a sharp RBI single by Drew Pollum, 7-5.

Grillo, following in Tonini’s footsteps, struck out the side in the eighth inning.

With the bases loaded in the bottom half, Taylor caught everyone off guard by stealing home, and Edwards added an RBI sacrifice fly for a pair of much-desired insurance runs.

Sabre Dogs relief pitcher Caden Kaelber came in to close things out in the ninth and got the final three outs.

“The guys in the back of the pen have been shut down all season,” Thompson said. “We still had those two guys (Grillo and Kaelber) ready to roll, and they pitched their butts off.”

The Sabre Dogs have three more home games against the Pierre Trappers over the next three days to wrap up the regular season.

The second and final playoff spot in the Lewis Division will be decided by which team ends up with a better second-half record.

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

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