Royals Give Grand Forks the blue in sweep
Valley City 13, Grand Forks 7
Valley City used a seven run second inning to take a big lead then held off a rally by Grand Forks to defeat the Blues 13-7 in game one of a legion baseball doubleheader at Charlie Brown Memorial Field June 7th.
The Royals scored in the bottom of the first when Braxton Jorissen scored on Broden Muske's single with two out.
In the pivotal second inning, the first seven batters reached base and five scored before there was an out recorded. Devyn Thornton was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Max Mehus walked, Kai Kringlie doubled to score Thornton, Adam Bitz singled to score Mehus and Ethan Miller walked to load the bases. Braxton Jorissen singled to score Kringlie and reload the bases with no one out. With Gavin Gerhardt at the plate, Bitz scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. Gerhardt would eventually walk to reload the bases again. With Muske up, Miller scored on a wild pitch. Muske struck out, but the ball got away from Blues catcher Gabe Tande, scoring Jorissen. Joe Cummings hit a sacrifice fly to score Gerhardt to give Valley City an 8-0 lead.
Adam Bitz was in control on the mound early for Valley City. He retired the side in order in the first and third and only allowed a one out single in the second. But Grand Forks got to the right hander in the fourth. The first five batters reached for the Blues. Braden Brevik scored on an error. Noah Morkve scored on Blaise Wocken's single. Brady Peterson scored on a fielder's choice. Wocken scored on Justin Roth's single to make it 8-4 Royals. With the bases loaded and two outs, Brevik doubled to clear the bases and cut the Royals lead to 8-7.
Valley City would come right back in the bottom of the fourth. Gavin Gerhardt scored on Devyn Thornton's rbi ground out. With the bases loaded, Broden Muske scored on a wild pitch. After Carver Pederson walked to reload the bases, Adam Bitz hit a sacrifice fly to score Joe Cummings. Ethan Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Braxton Jorissen singled to score Max Mehus to make it 12-7 Valley City after four innings.
The Royals added another run in the fifth on Devyn Thornton's sacrifice fly which scored Broden Muske who led off the inning with a walk.
But Carver Pederson and Joe Cummings combined for 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief for Valley City to seal the win in game one.
All nine starters had at least one hit for Valley City. Jorissen and Bitz had two each. Jorissen, Muske, Thornton and Bitz drove in two each.
Valley City Grand Forks
Grand Forks scored early and often in game two. The Blues plated three runs in the first, all coming with two out. With the bases loaded, Tyson Ulmer singled in Noah Morkve and Connor Knutson for the early 2-0 lead. With the bases still loaded, Jace Mason walked, scoring Josh Scribner for a 3-0 Blues lead.
The Blues added two more runs in the second inning. Braden Brevik doubled in Gabe Tande who walked to start the inning. Then with two out, Scribner singled in Brevik to make it 5-0 Blues.
But Valley City would not be denied the sweep opportunity in this Legion home and season opener. Valley City scored a run in the bottom of the second when Muske scored on Mehus' sacrifice fly to left.
The Royals would break the game open in the third inning. Adam Bitz and Ethan Miller singled to start the inning, then after Miller stole second, Braxton Jorissen doubled them both in to cut the Blues lead to 5-3. Gavin Gerhardt singled and stole second. Broden Muske reached on an error, scoring Jorissen and moving Gerhardt to third still with no one out. Muske stole second then Joe Cummings reached on an error, scoring both Gerhardt and Muske to give Valley City the 6-5 lead. Devyn Thornton singled to left which scored courtesy runner Espen Kunze. The Royals would load the bases with one out. Ethan Miller was hit by a pitch which brought in courtesy runner Zach Sykora. Gerhardt doubled to score Kai Kringlie and Adam Bitz to make it 10-5 Valley City. Musk singled to score Miller and Gerhardt. The 12 run inning was capped off by Joe Cummings who tripled to score Muske to give Valley City a 13-5 lead.
Valley City would end the game early with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Gavin Gerhardt led off with a walk. Broden Muske scored him with a triple to right. Muske would score on Devyn Thornton's single to left to make the final 15-5 Valley City.
Eight different starters had at least one hit for the Royals. Muske led the way with three hits, four runs scored and four rbi. Gerhardt, Thornton, and Adam Bitz had two hits each. Gerhardt scored three times, Bitz and Ethan Miller twice each. Eight starters scored at least one run and seven drove in runs.
Thornton got the win in relief. He allowed three hits and two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five.
Valley City is 2-0 on the year and will travel to Cassleton for a doubleheader on Friday.