Alex Eisen/MDN Sabre Dogs outfielder Wilson Roubion (4) makes contact with a pitch Wednesday evening against the Badlands Big Sticks at Corbett Field in Minot.

Leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth provided to be costly Wednesday evening for the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs.

Despite an admirable three-run 10th inning rally to force another frame, the Sabre Dogs (2-3) fell 7-6 in 11 innings to the Badlands Big Sticks (3-2) for their first home loss this season at Corbett Field.

After two quick innings to start the game, Sabre Dogs starting pitcher Trevor Jackson ran into trouble in the third inning. The Big Sticks scored the first three runs on an RBI single by Conner VanCleave, a double steal and an RBI double by Clayton Hale.

That ended Jackson’s night. Minot State pitcher Curtis Strahlecker picked up the pieces with one pitch — inducing a popup — to exit the inning.

Controversy surfaced in the fourth inning when Big Sticks No. 8 hitter Carson Lundmark thought he had hit a solo home run around the right field foul pole. Lundmark sauntered all the way to second base before realizing the umpire standing on the first-base line signaled the ball foul.

While Badlands pleaded to count the home run, the scoreboard ultimately remained the same at 3-0 in the Big Sticks’ favor.

Souris Valley, after two hits through the first four innings, got the bats going a little bit in the fifth frame. Allen Grier got rid of the Sabre Dogs’ goose egg with an RBI chopper through the right side of the infield.

Soon after, Mason Dinesen sent a sharp grounder to the left side of the infield that wasn’t corralled cleanly. Wilson Roubion scored and cut the Big Sticks’ advantage down to a single run, 3-2.

Big Sticks head coach Billy Tomblin was thrown out of the game in the fifth inning after arguing about a runner called out at first base. The pent-up frustration of not getting the home run call earlier in the game certainly aided his early departure from Corbett Field.

Tomblin watched the remainder of the game from an overlooking vantage point — technically outside of the stadium confines — deep in left field.

Back on the field, Roubion hustled out what could have been an inning-ending double play in the sixth inning to tie the score at 3-3.

The Sabre Dogs could have avoided extra innings but left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the extra frames, each team starts with a runner on second base.

The Big Sticks pounced with three runs in the top of the 10th. Souris Valley, not going down without a fight, answered back with three runs.

Badlands brought in that extra runner on second base in the 11th inning, and the Sabre Dogs weren’t able to with another controversial call being made. A wild pitch saw the ball spring toward the Big Sticks’ dugout while the Sabre Dogs runner sprinted for third base.

Sabre Dogs argued the ball rolled out of the playing surface, so the runner on third base should have been allowed to cross home plate. The umpires convened and disagreed, and Souris Valley ended up stranding the tying-runner on third base in a hard-to-swallow 7-6 extra-innings loss at home.

The Sabre Dogs head back down to Dickinson for a single road game against the Badlands Big Sticks at 7:35 p.m. this evening. They return to Minot for a three-game homestand at Corbett Field from July 3-5 against the Western Nebraska Pioneers.

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