Minot’s Mason Stewart is called out on strikes by the home plate umpire during a doubleheader against Fargo Post 2 on Tuesday, June 30, at Jack Hoeven Park. Mike Kraft/MDN

Whether he was in the batter’s box or on the mound, the Minot Vistas didn’t have an answer for Jack Joyce, or the rest of the Fargo Post 2 lineup.

The first-year Post 2 member launched a grand slam in his first at-bat of the doubleheader as part of an eight RBI afternoon and pitched a complete game in the finale to provide his team with a dominating sweep of the Vistas, with both games ending early.

Fargo jumped out to a six-run lead in the first inning of the opener en route to a 12-1 victory in five innings before completing the sweep with a 13-2 win that also concluded via mercy rule on Tuesday, June 30, at Jack Hoeven Park.

“We just got outclassed from the start,” Vistas coach Pat Arnston said. “They are always at the top of the state for a reason and they kind of put it on us from the go. How we played had just as much to do with how they were playing versus us not showing up. They’re really good and things are harder and we weren’t quite ready for it.”

It’s been a decade of dominance for Post 2 over the Vistas in the regular season, having now won the last 13 contests. The two teams met over the weekend at the Jim Pettersen Fargo-Moorhead Invitational, with Post 2 coming away with a 10-7 victory. The Vistas have not beaten Post 2 in the regular season since 2020.

In the opener, Minot (15-12 overall, 5-7 Class AA) found itself trailing by six runs before coming to bat for the first time. Post 2 loaded the bases right away and Carson Shiek put Fargo ahead with a sacrifice fly to plate Kellen Dougherty. A walk to Tate Barnacle loaded the bases once again and brought Joyce up to bat for the first time. He wasted little time, sending the first pitch he saw from Gavin King over the fence in right for his first career grand slam.

“I wasn’t really expecting it,” Joyce said. “The wind was blowing out and I felt good. I provided for the team and had the first couple of RBIs.”

Joyce drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth for his fifth RBI of the game.

He wasn’t the only Fargo Post 2 member to take a trip around the bases. Wyatt Kosidowski hit a solo shot in the third inning to give Post 2 an 8-0 lead. Barnacle recorded an RBI triple the inning prior.

“It’s good to get those runs early, but sometimes you get worried about complacency setting in during the middle innings instead of keeping going at it and you start to maybe not grind out your at-bats as well, but obviously you want to play from in front instead of from behind,” Fargo Post 2 coach Luke Rustad said. “Overall, I’m just happy that even though there were some lulls with some at-bats, we got out in front and continued to put pressure on the rest of the game.”

Fargo (19-7, 7-1) put the game away in the fifth with a four-run inning. Following Joyce’s RBI walk, Brander Hilmert drove in a pair of runs with a double to left. Joyce came around to score during the next at-bat when Logan Dixon was called for a balk.

Post 2 recorded 13 hits, with eight batters contributing to that amount. Kosidowski finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and four runs scored. Henry Schrum, Shiek, and Hilmert all collected two hits.

“We had some kids injured that weren’t in the lineup today, so we challenged them to pick up the slack from having some of our better guys out of the lineup,” Rustad said. “The kids responded well and our leaders responded well.”

Peyton House doubled and had two hits for the Vistas. Remington Anderson drove in Minot’s lone run with a two-out single to center to bring in Gannon Hedberg.

It wasn’t six runs, but Fargo Post 2 again had a lead before Minot picked up the bats. And it was Joyce that once again was the source of those runs. With the bases loaded and two outs, Joyce swung at the first pitch he saw and sent it up the middle to score Kosidowski and Schrum for an early 2-0 lead.

“I was just looking fastball and I think I swung at first pitches and I was just driving it either opposite field or that one home run,” Joyce said. “They were all fastballs and I was just sitting on it.”

The big inning for Post 2 came in the following frame, where they put up five runs to grab a 7-1 advantage. They loaded the bases with no outs following three consecutive walks. After a pair of fly outs, Shiek drove in two with a single, Barnacle did the same with a triple and Joyce doubled in the final run.

Minot pitchers issued 18 walks in the doubleheader while trying to navigate windy conditions.

Facing big early deficits forced Minot to divert from its original game plan at times.

“You’re going to use different pitchers and hopefully your hitters don’t feel like they are up against it even though they kind of are,” Arnston said. “It certainly changes the whole vibe, especially when it’s big numbers.”

The Vistas used six pitchers over the 10 innings.

Prior to Tuesday’s doubleheader, Joyce had one extra-base hit through 24 games. He doubled that with his home run and double as part of a 4-for-5 performance with eight RBIs and three runs scored.

“It’s Jack’s first year on the Post 2 team,” Rustad said. “He’s really been putting in a lot of work outside of practice. And he’s just been getting better and better on the mound in every one of his starts. I’m happy for him because I know the work that he is putting in and he’s coming out asking for that extra stuff and he’s been able to have some success in games. When you see a kid put in the work and have success, you’re happy for him.”

Post 2 added two more runs in the third before stretching the lead to 11 with four in the fourth. Schrum and Joyce each finished with three hits in the nightcap.

After a rocky first two innings on the mound in which he gave up a pair of doubles to Anderson and Brody Mueller in the first and threw two pitches to the backstop to allow a run during the second, Joyce commanded the strike zone. He gave up two runs on three hits in the first two innings, but surrendered just a single hit and kept the Vistas off the scoreboard over the final three frames. He finished with nine strikeouts.

“The first few innings were rough and my coaches talked to me about it. I decided I was done walking people and I started to pick it up,” Joyce said. “I struggled quite a bit locating my slider in the first couple innings. I pretty much just waited until I felt like the wind had died down and then I threw.”

Fargo Post 2 has won seven straight games and eight of its last nine.

Arnston knows that to get to their end destination of winning a state title, it almost assuredly will require going through Fargo Post 2. They represent one of just two teams dating back to 2015 that have won the state tournament – West Fargo being the other. Post 2 has won six state titles since 2015 and 29 total.

“We have to try and build toward the summer and we have another month yet to try and get ready to be prepared to play teams like that in a much more competitive fashion,” Arnston said.

The Vistas are right back in action on Wednesday, July 1, when they travel to play Park River Post 147 for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.