With the wind blowing out to center at Kraft Field, the conditions favored the hitters.
Fargo South took advantage, notching seven runs in the fourth inning en route to defeating Grand Forks Red River 11-2 in the semifinals of the East Region baseball tournament on Friday.
The Roughriders jumped out to the early lead during a two-out rally in the top of the second inning.
After strikeouts in their first two at-bats, Joey Conneran hit a double. Casey Fugleberg followed that with a single, and Conneran scored on throwing error. Pitcher Scott Swiers helped his cause by knocking in Fugleberg with an RBI double to left field.
"We came out fired up and got a 2-0 lead," Red River coach Mark Varriano said. "But (South) deserves a lot of credit. They did everything right."
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But South had a two-out rally of their own.
With the bases loaded, Matt Achter hit a single to right field to score two runs, while a third scored on an error. David Ernst and Jared Quinlan each added RBI singles in the inning, while Kyle Kingsley knocked in two to cap the seven-run inning and give the Bruins a 10-2 lead. Ernst finished with two hits, two runs and two RBIs.
"They had excellent two-out hitting," Varriano said. "We just couldn't get that last out."
Red River faces Devils Lake tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., with a bid to the N.D. state tournament on the line.
"It's going to be tooth and nail," Varriano said. "You're not going to need to fire anyone up for this one."
Fargo Shanley 2, West Fargo 0: Fargo Shanley scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and that would be all the Deacons needed in defeating West Fargo in the other semifinal.
The Deacons opened the inning by taking three straight walks. Mike Jones knocked in one run with a single, while Kyle Vestad took a walk to score the other.
Eric Jagim took care of the rest, striking out eight batters and giving up one hit in picking up the win.
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Jared Rebar had the Packers' lone hit, while Alex Pribula gave up four hits in a losing effort.
Devils Lake 8, Wahpeton 5: David Gutschmidt and Devin Gathman each went 2-for-3 with two runs to lead Devils Lake past Wahpeton in the day's first loser-out game.
But in the top of the first inning, the eighth-seeded Huskies had upset on their minds. Jordan Ralph, Jeremy Bontjes and Ethan Manske each scored runs to give Wahpeton a 3-0 lead.
Devils Lake fired back with a six-run fourth inning that plated 10 batters. The Firebirds added two more in the next frame to seal the win.
Jordan Ralph went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs to lead Wahpeton.
Fargo North 4, GF Central 0: Ethan Schnabel went 2-for-4, while Zach Argall was 2-for-3 with three RBIs in leading Fargo North over Grand Forks Central in a loser-out game.
The Knights' offensive woes continued as they were unable to score a run in the tournament.
David Nelson went 3-for-4 to lead the Knights, while Brady Johnson and Derek Schipper each added two hits.
