May 6, 2024

DICKINSON, N.D. – Fifth-seeded Waldorf (Iowa) made a fast start with three runs in the opening inning and never trailed in the game, fueling to their first North Star Athletic Association baseball championship appearance with a 5-1 victory over No. 3 seed Valley City State (N.D.).  The postseason tournament is being played at Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark.

The Warriors, who won their third straight elimination game to improve their overall record to 23-27, will face top-seeded Bellevue (Neb.) in the championship game at 12:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).  WU needs to beat the Bruins to force the second championship game Tuesday afternoon.

VCSU ended their season at 21-33 overall record.

After the Warriors took a 1-0 lead after VCSU’s wild pitch with bases loaded, Robert Gurney hit a 2-out 2-RBI single to extend their lead to 3-0.

Juan Jorge drilled a lead-off double and advanced two bases, thanks to a pair of wild pitches by the Vikings along Jorge to score for 4-0 Waldorf lead in the bottom second.

Valley City State scored their first run of the game in the top fourth, sparked by back-to-back singles by Jamel Chabot and Dustin Mertz.  After Cody Wielgosh’s sacrifice bunt to advance catcher’s courtesy runner Justin Rogers to third base and Mertz to second base, Kaden Rozdeba produced an RBI fielder’s choice to score Rogers (VCSU trailed 4-1).

Waldorf answered with a run in the bottom half of the fourth caused by VCSU’s defensive miscue (WU led 5-1).

The Warriors added a pair of RBI singles later in the game to secure the victory (RBI single by Kolby Amaral in the sixth and Zach Meyer’s RBI single in the eighth for 7-1 lead).

Ryan Meyer (W, 7-7) tabbed the victory after working for five innings on the pitching mound.  He yielded one run on five hits.  Waldorf’s bullpen continued their success after tossing a combined four shutout innings (Trevor Brace and Ryuya Kato with two scoreless innings each), extending their bullpen scoreless innings to 17-plus scoreless innings since Sunday.

Jorge finished the game with two doubles and scored three runs for Waldorf.  Gurney added a single and two RBIs.  Ryan Webster tallied two hits.  Z. Meyer had two singles and an RBI.
 
Jamel Chabot and Daegen Morcom each had two singles for Valley City State.  Tory Nelson had a double.  Mertz registered a single and a walk.

Hunter Magnuson (L, 5-5) took the defeat for VCSU, despite working for the first two outs in the game after giving up three runs.  The Vikings used five different pitchers in relief.