One week into the Legion baseball season and the Minot Vistas already have their first piece of hardware in what they hope is plenty more to come.

The Vistas captured the Border Battle title with a 12-6 victory over the Bismarck Governors in the championship game on Sunday, June 7, at Memorial Ballpark in Mandan. Minot scored the game’s first 10 runs and accumulated 14 hits to win the six-team tournament featuring three teams from Canada and three teams from North Dakota.

After ending the opening day of the tournament on a sour note by being shutout by the Saskatoon Diamondbacks on Friday, June 5, the Vistas amassed 40 runs over their final three games. Minot finished the tournament with 50 runs scored, winning four of five contests.

Oliver Deschamp was a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored against the Governors. The Vistas had six extra-base hits – all doubles. Five Minot batters recorded multi-hit games.

The Vistas (5-2) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning before taking control with a six-run second. Brock Thompson opened the scoring with an RBI single to left, plating Logan Dixon. Brody Mueller followed with an RBI single and Drew Jordan drove in two runs with a double to left. Bismarck brought in relief pitcher Jaxon Herrmann to stop the bleeding, but Deschamp kept the offense going with a run-scoring single and Gannon Hedberg put Minot up 7-0 with an RBI double.

The Vistas grew their lead to 10-0 in the fourth. Deschamp recorded his second RBI of the contest and a two-run error at third base allowed Deschamp and Jordan to score.

Bismarck (4-2) got on the board with three runs in the fourth and tacked on another in the fifth, as well as two more in the sixth, but had dug itself too deep a hole to climb out of. The Governors finished with 16 hits, but committed four errors.

Joey Kraljic homered as part of a 2-for-4 game, driving in a pair of runs. Nathan Heil finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Seven Bismarck hitters had at least two hits.

Jordan, Deschamp, Hedberg and Dixon all finished with multiple RBIs.

Minot was one of three teams to finish pool play 2-1, joining Bismarck and the Saskatoon Diamondbacks. The Vistas received the No. 1 seed amongst the four teams that advanced to the semifinal round, winning the tiebreaker for fewest runs allowed during pool play. The Vistas gave up 13 runs in three games, while the Governors and Diamondbacks both surrendered 16 runs. The Saskatoon Cubs received the final semifinal spot at 1-2 thanks to a head-to-head victory over Mandan. The Regina White Sox went 0-3 in pool play.

Minot’s semifinal meeting with the Cubs went much like its pool play matchup. The Vistas won the game via mercy rule in five innings with an 11-1 decision. Kayden Danielson limited the Cubs to three hits. He surrendered a run and two hits in the opening frame before holding Saskatoon to just two baserunners the rest of the way, neither making it past second base.

The Vistas took the lead with a four-run second inning and ballooned their advantage with seven more runs in the fourth. Peyton House led the offense with a pair of hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Jordan and Jace Price also drove in two runs. Both plated runs in the second, with Price scoring Hedberg with a double and House singling home Price. Remington Anderson added an RBI double.

Five walks, four hits and two sacrifice flies produced Minot’s final seven runs. Price and House delivered back-to-back sacrifice flies before Minot proceeded to score five runs with two outs. Mason Stewart drew a bases-loaded walk, Deschamp singled in a run, Jordan and Hedberg both drove in runs via walks and Tegan Schindler scored on a wild pitch. The Vistas drew seven walks in the game.

Bismarck advanced to the championship game with a 10-5 victory over the Diamondbacks.

The Vistas closed out pool play with a 17-7 victory over the very same Saskatoon Cubs on Saturday, June 6, to take two of three games against opponents from Canada. Minot scored 10 unanswered runs over the final two innings to end the game via mercy rule after five innings.

With the game tied 7-7 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Vistas plated six runs before scoring four more in the fifth. The Cubs pulled even for a second time in as many innings after falling behind 6-3 after two, scoring a run in the top of the fourth off an RBI single from Rowan Blechinger.

The Vistas responded with six runs in the bottom of the fourth off four hits, two Saskatoon errors and a pair of walks to break the game open. Schindler put the Vistas in front for good with an RBI single to right field, scoring Mueller from third. Price added another run-scoring single two batters later following the first of two Cub errors in the frame. A walk to Dixon loaded the bases and House scored Jordan on a sac fly to left.

A two-out error not only kept the inning alive for the Vistas, but directly resulted in two more runs to put Minot ahead 12-7. Mueller capped off the six-run fourth with an RBI single to center, plating Stewart.

Minot loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and ended the game early with back-to-back-to-back RBI singles from House, Anderson and Stewart.

The Vistas fell behind 3-1 heading into the bottom of the second after the Cubs came up with three runs in the top half of the frame, two coming from a triple off the bat of Aiden Kilshaw. Minot needed just three at-bats in the second to retake the lead. Jordan led off the frame with a triple and scored on the ensuing throw from right field. Price walked and Dixon sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run home run and a 4-3 lead. Mueller drove in two runs later in the inning with a single to right, scoring Anderson and House.

Eight Vistas recorded a hit and an RBI and five had multiple hits. Minot had 13 total hits. Jordan finished with a double, triple, an RBI and four runs scored. Mueller finished with two hits and had a game-high four RBIs. Anderson, House and Dixon also had multiple RBIs.

Kilshaw led the Cubs with a 3-for-4 game at the plate, tripling and bringing in three runs.

The Vistas begin conference play against Fargo Post 2 on Tuesday, June 9, at 5 p.m. at Corbett Field.