Mike Kraft/MDN Minot first baseman Max Ortega connects on an RBI single during the eighth inning against Badlands on Sunday at Corbett Field.

The Hot Tots established a new franchise-record winning streak on Sunday, claiming their fourth straight victory with a 10-5 triumph over Badlands at Corbett Field, as Minot remains undefeated since returning from the All-Star break.

The record wasn’t in the back of the team’s mind either; it was front and center. Both players and coaches knew what was on the line when they took the field against a Big Sticks team that was sporting their own extended winning streak, having won five straight games.

“We actually did talk about it in our huddle and I think that really motivated us,” Minot outfielder Rowan Felsch said. “Shoutout to (pitcher) Josh Livengood with the pregame speeches. I feel like those have been helping out a lot. But it’s a really cool milestone to hit.”

This was Minot’s fourth attempt at a four-game winning streak over the last two seasons. The Hot Tots set their previous franchise-best streak of three games during the 2024 season, but lost to Mankato in their next game. Minot would have to wait until this season for its next opportunity. After opening the season with seven consecutive losses, Minot won its next three before ultimately falling to Willmar at home. The Hot Tots’ last attempt came near the end of June after a win against St. Cloud and a pair of victories over Mankato, but it would be Mankato that would again end the streak short of a new record.

“Anytime we can do stuff to push the organization further and try to get the word ‘winning’ more closely related to the Minot Hot Tots, it’s great,” Minot coach Brian Lewis said. “The guys have talked about it quite a bit all year. We’ve had opportunities a couple times earlier in the year and let it slip through our fingers and they were pretty focused on getting it done today and they did a great job.”

The Hot Tots (9-8) weren’t going to be denied for a fourth time, even after Badlands rallied in the sixth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Minot responded with six unanswered runs, with Zach Doyle’s two-run home run to right field in the bottom of the sixth putting the Hot Tots ahead for good.

“That felt amazing,” Doyle said. “I was kind of struggling my first few at-bats, missing those pitches. He threw me a change-up and I just finally connected on it. It hung up there a little bit. I didn’t think it was gone, but it left. I got lucky.”

Minot added a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Castro to plate All-Star Matt Toomey. The Hot Tots would put the game out of reach in the eighth with three more runs. Blake Cavill delivered a two-run single and Max Ortega followed two batters later with an RBI single of his own. Cavill, Ortega, Felsch and Doyle combined for nine of Minot’s 10 RBIs.

“It means so much to us because we’ve been told we’ve been overlooked and we were talking about it earlier about how this can be a new record and we went after it and got it today, so it feels amazing to win,” Doyle said.

Minot scored early, putting up a run in the second and the third to take a 2-0 lead. Cavill picked up his first RBI of the game, drawing a bases-loaded walk in the second and Felsch drove a ball over the right-field fence for a solo home run in the third.

The Big Sticks (9-9) countered with a run in the fourth and fifth to pull even. Minot gifted Badlands its first run with a pair of throwing errors, turning a stolen base at second by Ryker Schow into a trip around the bases. A solo home run by Connor Meidroth tied it.

The Hot Tots’ pitching was strong, but ran into control issues in the sixth, leading to three runs in the sixth that handed the lead over to Badlands. Three walks, two hit batsmen and a wild pitch led to the Big Sticks plating three runs without recording a single hit in the inning.

Despite falling behind, Lewis credits the leadership with his team’s ability to rally in the later innings.

“We’ve got some really good older guys that are leading the way like Max Ortega and adding Blake Cavill was a really huge thing for us, but those two guys have been around the block a time or two and they stay calm, they’re clutch and they do a good job of leading the young guys,” Lewis said.

The pitching was solid the rest of the way, as Livengood did more than just deliver a motivating pregame speech. He pitched the final 3 1/3 innings, picking up his first win of the season. Livengood allowed one hit, striking out four.

The Hot Tots are now 3-0 since the All-Star break, and Lewis credits a balanced approach to playing a crucial part of that.

“Our pitchers are doing a really good job of buying in and pitching to contact,” Lewis said. “Our defense is playing really strong and our bats are waking up a bit. I thought today our offense really carried us in an inning where our pitching command got away from us and we made a couple throwing errors. You can see walking guys and making errors isn’t a good combo at any level, but especially at the Northwood League level. But when we throw to contact and pitch strikes, we do a good job and I thought the offense was able to keep us in the game and then put us over the top.”

The second half of the season is still just at the halfway point, but the Hot Tots are above .500 and are part of a log jam for the top spot in the Great Plains West standings as well as that second playoff spot. They currently sport the best current winning streak in the division and sit just one game back of Mankato and Willmar for first place.

“The most important part has been working together,” Felsch said. “I feel like we’re doing a better job of that.”

The Hot Tots look to build on their winning streak today when they play host to Badlands at 3:35 p.m. at Corbett Field.