The Official Newspaper for Foster County

CHS surges to #2 seed going into Region 3

Three clutch mound performances, along with a power surge by Hudson Schmitz in the final two Region 3 games, helped put the Carrington Cardinal baseball team in a good spot heading into the postseason.

The Cards rode a pitching-by-committee approach to perfection in Steele Friday, May 13, and took a 4-1 win in nine innings over the Kidder County Wolves.

Grady Shipman threw the first two innings in the contest, and Schmitz covered the middle six to pick up the win. Lucas Hendrickson got the final three outs for the save.

The boxscore for that game was not available at press time.

This past Monday in Tolna, CHS won identical 5-2 decisions at the expense of Midkota/Dakota Prairie/Lakota/Griggs Co. Central and SNR.

Schmitz cracked a pair of home runs in the win over the Mustangs, and also hit a double while driving in three runs and scoring twice. Shipman also had a triple and drove in two, and Corbin Clifton had the other hit.

Taking the loss for Midkota was Preston Lee, though he tried to help his own cause with two hits. Zach Gibson had two hits, including a triple, and James Vollmer also had a triple and Trent Ekren a hit in defeat.

Hendrickson, the senior left-hander, struck out six Midkota hitters and surrendered just one earned run while scattering seven hits.

Against the Black Sox, Shipman blew through the SNR batting order for 14 strikeouts, giving up six hits and no earned runs.

The Cards won in spite of just three total hits, two of those from Schmitz, with another double to his credit. Clifton stole two bases and scored twice with an RBI as well.

The loss for SNR came with a strong effort on the hill by Keaton Cudworth, striking out nine in six innings. Connor Knatterud also went 3-for-4 for the Black Sox, and Nick Berglund also added a pair of singles.

Carrington's regular season finale against LaMoure/Litchville-Marion this past Tuesday was cancelled, and will not be made up due to the game's irrelevance to seeding. The Loboes are already locked into the top overall seed in Region 3 with a 9-0 league mark.

The Cards (6-4 overall, 6-3 Region 3) earned the number two seed in the Region 3 Tournament, which will be held at City Park starting today (May 23).

It will mark the first action at the park this spring, as weather and field condition considerations have kept CHS from playing a "true" home game so far.

Carrington will play the winner of the May 18 game in Steele between #3 seed Kidder County (8-5) and #6 SNR (2-11) at 12:30 p.m.

The other first round game pitted #4 Midkota/DP/L/GCC (5-6) opposite #5 South Border (2-7) in Tolna, with the winner taking on top seed LaMoure/L-M (10-1) at 10 a.m.

Region 3 Tournament play will continue Tuesday and Wednesday, with the champion advancing to the State Class B Tournament at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo June 2-4.

Region 3 Baseball

Carrington 5,

Midkota/DP/Lakota/GCC 2

at Tolna

DP 000 020 0 - 2 7 0

Cgtn. 004 010 x - 5 5 2

Lucas Hendrickson and Hudson Schmitz; Preston Lee, Kyle Johnson (3) and Kaleb Short. W - Hendrickson. L - Lee.

Carrington: Hendrickson CG, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; Schmitz 3-4, 2 HR, double, 2 runs, 3 RBI; Corbin Clifton 1-2; Grady Shipman 1-4, triple, run, 2 RBI.

Midkota: Lee 2-3; Zach Gibson 2-4, triple, run, RBI; Trent Ekren 1-2, SB, run; James Vollmer 1-2, triple; Cade Stein SB.

Carrington 5, SNR 2

at Tolna

SNR 001 000 1 - 2 6 3

Cgtn. 110 003 x - 5 3 3

Shipman and Clifton; Keaton Cudworth and Koby Duda. W - Shipman. L - Cudworth.

Carrington: Shipman CG, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K; 1-3, double, SB, run; Schmitz 2-3, double, run, RBI; Clifton 2 SB, 2 runs, RBI; Jack Erickson run; Hendrickson SB.

SNR: Cudworth 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, BB, 9 K; Connor Knatterud 3-4, SB, 2 runs; Nick Berglund 2-4, RBI; Bradyn Collier 1-3.