So for the Minot Metros, Wednesday’s non-conference finale against Renville County at Corbett Field was one last chance to keep things a bit lighter and not focus as much on what the scoreboard read at the end.

The scoreboard showed an 11-4 loss to the Muskrats in which the Metros committed six errors and surrendered 13 of the game’s final 15 runs, but the end result didn’t faze Minot coach Craig Schmich.

“The biggest thing for us is this is our last non-conference game before we start our last regional play and then we go into the tournament, so today was more so getting some guys some ABs, try to get some guys playing different positions and having a little bit of fun with it because once we get into regional play it’s going to be a lot of stressful games and some guys may not get their opportunities so it’s one last time to get guys out there,” Schmich said.

The Metros (22-15) will have today off before closing out their regular season with a conference doubleheader against Williston beginning at 1 p.m. at Jack Hoeven Park on Friday. Minot currently sits in second place in the Class A West standings, two games behind Valley City and one game in front of the Bismarck Reps.

The Metros got off to a strong start, plating a pair of runs in the second inning to grab a 2-0 lead. Logan Dixon led off the inning and came around to score on an RBI single by Brady Vigested two batters later. Vigested would touch home on an RBI single to right by Owen Sundahl. Minot collected four of its nine hits in the second inning.

The bulk of Minot’s offense came from the bottom of the order as Vigested, Sundahl and Levi Balas combined to go 6-for-11 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored. The rest of the lineup was 3-for-25. The Metros used 14 different hitters throughout the game.

“That’s been the biggest thing for us all year is that the bottom half of our lineup has been there for us when we needed them to be there for us in big spots,” Schmich said. “At the end of the day, if 1-9 is hitting for us, we’ll be all right.”

The lead proved to be short-lived as the Muskrats (11-7) responded with six runs in the third with the aid of three Minot miscues. Kellan Henry scored their first run of the game on a two-base error following a pickoff attempt at second base that went into the outfield. A misplay in left field allowed Drayson Johnson to give Renville County a 3-2 lead on an RBI single by Brody Nordmark that also brought in Hunter Tolstad. An RBI double off the bat of Eli Undlin and a wild pitch brought in the final two runs of the frame.

It was more of the same in the fourth, with the Muskrats adding two more runs on the scoreboard and the Metros racking up three additional errors. Tolstad and Johnson scored as direct results of errors as Renville County built an 8-2 lead.

While the Metros don’t want to make a habit of committing six errors per game, Schmich chalked that up more to players playing positions they aren’t normally accustomed to playing.

“Guys are playing different positions,” Schmich said. “Obviously we don’t want six errors, but we can kind of live with it, giving some guys opportunities to do something they haven’t really done all summer for us.”

It wasn’t just Minot providing the Muskrats with all their runs. Renville County did plenty of hitting on its own. Henry and Tolstad each had three-hit nights and Undlin went 2-for-5 with a double, 2 RBIs and a run scored. The Muskrats put together 14 hits.

“Today was by far the best we’ve seen from our hitters,” Renville County coach Dylan Roach said. “Everybody came ready to hit today. The bottom of the lineup – shoutout to them – they were just crushing the ball. We’ve been working hard with them all year and I love to see that because whenever you get that type of production out of the bottom of your lineup, it’s going to be a good day.”

The Muskrats used three pitchers – Johnson, Tolstad and Will Artz – all throwing three innings of work. Johnson recorded six of his nine outs via strikeouts and the trio combined for 11 total strikeouts while walking just three Metros batters.

“We have our conference tournament coming up next week and we’re getting ready to prepare for that,” Roach said. “The three guys we pitched are probably our three best arms and they are just getting ready to work for next week.”

The Muskrats added a run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Nine of Renville County’s 11 wins this season have involved the Muskrats scoring double-digit runs.

Roach believes a performance like that is just what the team needs heading into their conference tournament next week.

“We hit a little funk in the middle of the season and we got down on ourselves, but we know what we come here to do and coming into our tournament we know we’ll be able to crush the baseball like we always do,” Roach said.

Despite the loss, there were still positives the Metros could take away from the non-conference matchup as they head toward the postseason.

“Losing a game doesn’t feel good, but at the end of the day we put up nine hits against probably three of their best arms,” Schmich said. “We played well, we got some good competition and it’s just going to help us later on in regional play.”