Leading by three runs entering the bottom of the seventh inning, Burlington surrendered five walks and faced a bases-loaded situation with just one out, but Easton Anderson came on in relief in a high-pressure situation and preserved the victory, getting a pair of pop ups as the Bulldogs claimed the Souris River Slugfest title in a 6-5 victory over East Grand Forks on Sunday at Corbett Field.

“What a crazy inning,” Burlington coach Aidan Reichek said. “I bring in one of my best players and he just can’t find the strike zone, which is very unusual for him. Bring in another guy and he battles. I told him to pound the zone, make themselves get themselves out. He comes back from 3-1, and they pop up, that’s all you want.”

The Bulldogs (14-6) used three pitchers in the seventh inning and were just one ball away from seeing their lead completely evaporate and perhaps the championship as well. Leading 6-5 with one out and the bases loaded, Reichek tasked Anderson with closing out the game. Anderson fell behind 3-1 to Mason Frize, but battled back and popped him up, too shallow in the outfield to allow Evan Van Eps to tag and score from third. Anderson then got Carter Carlson to pop up to Collin Abernathey at first base to preserve the victory and tournament title for the Bulldogs, who never trailed at any point during the weekend.

“I just had to come in there and do what I can,” Anderson said. “I got behind on some counts and my curveball wasn’t really working, so I had to throw strikes and they pretty much did the work for me. Popped up and our defense was great today. They made plays for me.”

Entering their final at-bat, East Grand Forks (13-2) had chipped away at an early 6-0 deficit, scoring three unanswered runs to that point. They had drawn three walks through the first six innings, but matched that number with their first three plate appearances in the final frame. Reichek pulled AJ Kilbourn after the first two batters in favor of Drew Roedocker. Kilbourn tossed three innings in relief, allowing four runs on three hits while walking five.

Roedocker lasted a third of an inning, walking his first batter before striking out pinch-hitter Cayden Walsh. Roedocker’s day was finished after walking Darion Hall with the bases loaded to score Mason Ulland and cutting Burlington’s lead to 6-4.

“They know how to come back in a baseball game,” East Grand Forks assistant coach Riley Biberdorf said. “You can’t necessarily swing at the first pitch. You have to get deep in the count and try to get base runners and give it to the next guy. Our kids do a good job of working together and doing what they can to get wins.”

Anderson entered from there and got off to a rocky start. A passed ball allowed Nick Satterlund to score from third and put runners on second and third with one out in a 1-run game. The Bulldogs elected to intentionally walk Jaxon Stassen to reload the bases before Anderson bore down and got the final two outs without allowing the tying run to score.

“It shows how to fight,” Reichek said. “When you get down, keep your head up. When things are going wrong, keep your head up, keep battling and we have to find a way to finish the job. Easton Anderson was able to finish the job and that was awesome.”

East Grand Forks left 13 runners on base.

The loss was just East Grand Forks’ second of the season and snapped an 11-game winning streak dating back to June 13. East Grand Forks made three errors in the game, the first two turning out to be quite costly in the second inning. Those two errors led to four unearned runs for the Bulldogs.

With two outs and runners on first and second in the second inning, Anderson grounded harmlessly to shortstop. But the inning continued after an error at second, as the second baseman wasn’t able to handle the throw. That loaded the bases, and Kilbourn drew a walk to plate the game’s first run. East Grand Forks’ second error of the inning cleared the bases, as a slow dribbler near the mound led to an errant throw from Jake Stassen that went into right field, allowing three runners to score.

“That’s how you play baseball,” Reichek said. “They make errors and you take advantage of it. Knock here, knock there and you keep scoring. If they’re going to make errors, we have to build on that and make it hurt.”

Burlington added two more runs in the third. Ryan Ralph delivered an RBI single to left-center and Abernathey scored on a wild pitch to put the Bulldogs up 6-0. Abernathey had the lone multi-hit game for Burlington and reached base safely in all four plate appearances, scoring twice.

“I think it was just kind of baseball,” Biberdorf said. “It’s not a sport where everything goes right all the time, some bad bounces, some things we definitely need to clean up on, but overall kind of a slow start and not enough time to come back.”

Carter Magnell led East Grand Forks offensive production, going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI. Hall had a pair of RBIs and reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances.

Reichek liked what he saw out of his team throughout the tournament, especially from his defense, which he thought really stood out.

“Our defense was probably the best we’ve ever played,” Reichek said. “Our first baseman making diving plays, our outfield hustling and catching all these balls that probably should drop. Defense and our bats right now, that’s our biggest takeaway going into regional play.”

As for East Grand Forks, this weekend was all about proving themselves to the rest of the league.

“We’ll take away that we’re the real deal,” Biberdorf said. “We proved ourselves against some senior legion teams and I think we’ll take away that we’re good, but there are things we can improve on and that we need to get a little bit better when it comes to getting ready at the start of baseball games.”