JImmy Lafakis/MDN Surrey’s Dalton Anderson (light blue) slides toward home plate during Game 1 of Wednesday evening’s doubleheader against the Minot Expos at Jack Hoeven Park. The Blue Sox earned a 23-4 victory in the opener, but the nightcap was stopped due to unsportsmanlike conduct.

When Ryder Holien made hard contact with the baseball, the Surrey Blue Sox catcher had extra bases in mind. As the ball rolled all the way to the fence in left-center field, Holien activated another gear.

His inside-the-park home run in Game 1 of Wednesday evening’s doubleheader helped the Blue Sox take a 23-4 victory over the Minot Expos at Jack Hoeven Park in Minot. Due to unsportsmanlike conduct, Game 2 was stopped in the second inning after Surrey jumped out to a 3-1 lead.

“There was a play over here in the first game where our pitcher got it hit to him,” Surrey head coach Jesse Roberts said. “He went to go tag the guy. Their runner basically checked our player, so it kind of stems from that. They hit our guy twice on purpose, is what it seems like. I can’t say if it was or not, but it seemed like it was. Everybody just seemed a little on edge at that point. They called it because it was getting chippy. Guys didn’t want to be here, so there was no point to keep playing if nobody wanted to be here.”

Before the doubleheader spiraled out of control, Surrey’s offense fired on all cylinders. Holien’s deep drive highlighted a proficient team output.

“I just heard my teammates saying I could get extra bases,” he said. “I turned hard for second. Everyone just kept yelling, ‘Keep going, keep going.’ When I got to third, I thought I was just going to stop there. Then, (Roberts) sent me. I feel like that was a real momentum-bringer for our team.”

A hot start was the initial catalyst for Surrey’s success. After two runs scored on a throwing error in the first inning, Denver Buck ripped a two-run single to the outfield. A wild pitch gave the Blue Sox a 5-0 lead.

“I loved how we hit the ball,” Roberts said. “We were aggressive the whole time. Their kids threw strikes. It wasn’t anything that their team didn’t do. They threw strikes. We just happened to hit the ball and get in the gaps. We did exactly what we needed to do.”

Surrey starting pitcher Collin Headrick helped his own cause with a sharp RBI single in the second inning. In the third, Holien added his three-run home run before Conner Dyke and Jaxon Feller provided key offensive contributions.

After scoring nine runs in the third, Surrey tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth. The Expos favored patient approaches at the plate and countered with a four-spot in their half of the inning.

In the top of the fifth, Surrey added six additional runs via walks and outfield drives. The game was called in that inning.

The Blue Sox seized an early opportunity to score in the nightcap. Headrick’s RBI groundout to third base brought Holien home in the top of the first inning.

Two more Surrey runs in the top of the second brought the margin to 3-0. The Expos scored their only run in the bottom of that frame.

Because the chippiness persisted, the game reached an abrupt end.

“When you take it to a level where there’s some sort of conflict, it kind of brings the energy back to what it needed to be,” Expos assistant coach Tyler Luban said. “We obviously want to avoid any conflicts like that. From a baseball standpoint, we just need to be that focused when we aren’t getting beaten.”

Both teams will participate in the District 2 Tournament in Stanley next week.

“I’ve talked to them before about how we need to finish out games,” Roberts said. “We’ve had a couple games where we should have won and it came to the last inning. I don’t know if we weren’t aggressive or we thought we had it in the bag, but you’ve just got to finish out a game.”

Jimmy Lafakis covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JJLII30.