Minot Vistas catcher Oliver Deschamp tracks down a pop up in foul territory during a doubleheader against Bismarck on Sunday, June 14, at Corbett Field. Mike Kraft/MDN

Playing upwards of 50 games over the course of the summer, the Minot Vistas know they aren’t going to come out victorious in every contest they play, emphasizing the ability to have a short memory when those losses do occur.

The Vistas put their series-opening loss to Bismarck in the rearview mirror and scored five runs in the first inning en route to an 8-3 victory in Game 2 to earn a conference split with the Governors on Sunday, June 14, at Corbett Field. Bismarck won the opener 9-4.

“I don’t think we have a highly emotional team, which sometimes you have to see if they have a pulse,” Minot Vistas coach Pat Arnston said. “We don’t need the rah-rah stuff. You can tell the guys are there and engaged. It’s kind of how our group is. That can help when you’re not playing your best so that you’re not down in the valley being miserable.”

The time in between the first and second game was all the time the Vistas needed to brush aside the loss. By the time the first inning was over, the Vistas had already surpassed their run output from the previous game.

Minot carried momentum into its first at-bat of the finale following a double play turned by its defense to end the top of the first inning. Nick Thomas got Joey Kraljic to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The Vistas (7-4) put their first five hitters on base on four singles and a walk. Brody Mueller and Oliver Deschamp delivered RBIs right away and Tegan Schindler cleared the bases with a single to center to score Mueller and Deschamp. Drew Jordan also came around to score on an error at third on the same play.

Minot added three more runs in the fourth to build an 8-2 lead. Deschamp collected his second RBI of the contest with another single to score Mason Stewart. Jordan followed with an RBI single to center to bring home Mueller.

The top five batters in the lineup accounted for eight of Minot’s nine hits, driving in four and scoring seven runs. Remington Anderson led the way with a 3-for-4 performance. Deschamp and Jordan both had two hits.

“Those guys at the top and the middle of our lineup, we’re not going to be very good if they aren’t producing,” Arnston said. “It all starts with that. If we can get guys on base early and then the middle of the order is banging it around, too, it makes it a lot easier on our offense.”

All nine of Minot’s hits were singles, as the Vistas went up against a pair of lefties in Nathan Heil and Ethan Urlacher.

“A lot of that would have to do with the pitchers they threw today with some tough lefties that were spinning a lot of stuff, especially with our lefty-dominant lineup,” Arnston said. “I do think guys were doing a good job at the plate, but it had a lot to do with what the pitchers were letting them have.”

Aidan Rakowski homered for the Governors in the fifth.

Thomas picked up the win on the mound for the Vistas, allowing three runs on five hits over five innings. Gannon Hedberg tossed the final two innings, allowing a hit and striking out three.

In the opener, the Governors took advantage of four Minot errors, turning them into four unearned runs. The biggest came off the bat of Kraljic in the third that resulted in the Bismarck first baseman taking a trip around the bases. Kraljic sent a towering fly ball to center field that fell harmlessly to the ground after the center fielder fell down in pursuit of the baseball, allowing both Kraljic and Rakowski to score to give Bismarck a 2-1 lead.

“I saw a high fastball and I didn’t know if I could get my hands to it, so I just swung and hit a fly ball to center and I saw that he kept going back,” Kraljic said. “As I was rounding first and going to second, it looked like he was going to fall and he fell, and coming around third I realized I was going to do it and I had to slide home, but it was good.”

The Governors (6-4) scored seven runs and recorded eight of their nine hits following Kraljic’s at-bat. He added a two-run single in the fourth to give Bismarck a 5-1 lead. Kraljic finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

“I felt like I saw the ball very well today,” Kraljic said. “I thought I stayed tall on the off-speed pitches and I could get to anything. It was a good day at the plate for me.”

A sac fly from Hedberg scored Stewart from third to pull Minot within 7-4 after five innings, but the Governors added two more runs off errors to pull away. An error at short allowed Kraljic to score in the sixth and an error in left brought in Ryker Zietz all the way from first in the seventh.

“They put pressure on us,” Arnston said. “Kayden (Danielson) was bummed with how many free bags he gave up and then we mishandle one thing and it’s a problem. If we make two or so plays late, it’s a one-run game and we didn’t, and those runs count and those runs matter. Right now, it’s us making a few more plays versus us needing to fix a ton of things.”

The two teams had already seen each other once before this seasono, matching up in the championship game at the Border Battle in Mandan exactly a week ago. The Vistas won the title over the Governors with a 12-6 victory.

“We know they are a very good team and they are going to be in the mix all the way,” Bismarck Governors coach Mike Skytland said. “We just came ready to compete knowing it was going to be a tough game.”

Jace Price finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Vistas. Minot’s bottom four in the lineup recorded all four of the team’s RBIs.

Kraljic, Jack Pelham and Ziets all had multi-hit games for Bismarck.

The Vistas host Williston for a doubleheader on Tuesday, June 16, at 5 p.m.