Mike Kraft/MDN Drew Jordan and the Minot Vistas are the No. 6 seed in this year’s Class AA state tournament, where they will play defending champion West Fargo in their opening-round game in Williston.

They may be the No. 6 seed, but the Minot Vistas don’t want to hear the word “underdog” to describe their role at this year’s Class AA state tournament in Williston.

Despite knowing their path to an 11th state title will be tough right from the jump, the Vistas are in Williston for one reason and one reason only: to win.

Immediately standing in their way is a team with plenty of recent championship pedigree in West Fargo – the No. 3 seed. The Patriots are the defending state champion and have won three of the last four tournament titles.

“With how competitive some of our kids are, the underdog role isn’t one that we would lean into,” Vistas coach Pat Arnston said. “We’re the sixth seed but we split with West Fargo and besides Post 2 being where they’re at, everyone else was very tight in the standings. If we play better against Dickinson, we’re probably the three seed and feeling a little bit different. We know we’re going to have to play well with West Fargo.”

Minot and West Fargo met on June 25 in West Fargo, where the teams split a doubleheader. The Vistas claimed Game 1, 3-1, getting a pitching gem from Nick Thomas. He tossed six innings, allowing five hits and striking out three. Brock Nelson delivered a two-run bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to give the Vistas a 3-0 lead, and Minot would hold on for the victory. The Patriots salvaged a split in Game 2 with a 4-2 victory, plating all four runs in the fifth inning after yielding a run in the opening frame. West Fargo’s Trey Husar carried his team with his arm and his bat in the contest. He tossed a complete game, allowing six hits and striking out seven. He also went 2-3 at the dish with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored.

The Vistas aren’t lamenting about what could have been. They closed out their conference schedule with a pair of losses to Dickinson that dropped them to the sixth spot. Had they swept the Roughriders that day, the Vistas could very well have been the No. 3 seed. But none of that matters now and winning a state tournament requires beating good teams at some point during play.

“We tell our guys that it doesn’t really matter who or when you play, you’re not going to be able to avoid good teams and do anything at a state tournament,” Arnston said. “We’re going to have to play well. “We’re going to have to beat good teams and now we’re going to have to do it just a little bit quicker than we would have hoped.”

Arnston said that between hitting, fielding and pitching, the area that his team needs to perform the best in for them to make a deep run is unquestionably pitching. He has plenty of arms to turn to in Brody Mueller, Braden Nelson, Mason Stewart and Thomas, along with Tre Stewart, Hyrum Maples and Gannon Hedberg in the bullpen. Mueller and Thomas have started against the Patriots already this season and Hedberg and Tre Stewart have appeared in relief.

As for the bright lights of the state tournament, Arnston believes he’ll have his team ready to go when they take the field on July 29 at 1 p.m.

“We’re pretty hard on our guys as far as handling our business a certain way no matter where we are,” Arnston said. I think the difference will be that we overemphasize it from a coaching staff that we’re at the state tournament, but how we’ve handled our work and how we’ve handled our reps before this should feel the exact same. We’ll do our very best to try and keep the emotions in check that kids aren’t making it too big. You never know with these 16 to 19-year olds, the emotions can very much dictate good or bad how it goes. We’re going to make sure it doesn’t get overblown. We’re still playing baseball and that’s why we’ve been so particular on the details that you need to handle a certain way, no matter if it’s a Tuesday in June or at the state tournament.”

As for the rest of the field, everybody is looking up at Fargo Post 2, which ran through the conference schedule undefeated at 18-0. Fargo Post 2 allowed just 17 runs in those 18 games, posting nine shutouts. They also put up 141 runs of offense. West Fargo and Fargo Post 2 have combined to win the last 10 state titles. Bismarck in 2014 was the last non-Fargo squad to claim the title. Minot’s last title came in 2010, with its last appearance in the title game coming in 2018. Fargo Post 2 has won 28 state titles in its history and won the Central Plains Regional last year for the fifth time in history. A North Dakota program has only won the Central Plains Region seven times and Fargo Post 2 holds the majority of those instances.

“Their tradition and culture over there,” Arnston said of Fargo Post 2. “The barrier to entry just to get on the roster. You don’t just get on that team by accident because there aren’t enough kids around. Typically their guys go play college baseball and this is what they do. They are a bigger community that has such a strong baseball tradition that (Fargo Post 2 coach) Luke Rustad over there and his crew do such a good job that every year they are loaded. Even when they graduate a bunch they just get kids with different names who are really good at baseball and at some point will go play college baseball. They don’t build, they just refill their roster with talent.”

The state tournament got underway on July 28 with a pair of games featuring teams seeded 7-10. The six remaining higher seeds all play their first game of the state tournament on July 29. Rain forced July 28’s games to be moved from Aafedt Stadium to Rabon Field at Williston State College, but tournament officials are hoping to have Aafedt Stadium ready.