FARGO -- It was only a week ago when Fargo Davies' baseball team squandered a five-run lead against Grand Forks Red River during the semifinals of the East Region tournament.
The Eagles got a shot at redemption against the Roughriders in the North Dakota Class A state tournament semifinals on Friday.
Davies jumped out to another big lead against Red River in the rematch and, this time, it stuck as the Eagles won 6-0 at Newman Outdoor Field.
Senior pitcher Erik Engel was charged with pitching duties and he did his part in keeping the Roughriders off the board and for the most part off the bases.
"I wanted to get ahead on their hitters early," said Engel, who struck out six and scattered four hits to record the complete-game shutout. "That allowed me to mix up my pitches a little bit and keep them off balance. Getting the first strike always helps."
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Engel improves to 5-1 on the mound for the Eagles (26-9) this spring.
"We got some runs on the board early and that was huge," Fargo Davies head coach Hans Anderson said. "That gave Erik some wiggle room, and he did his job. He had a dominant performance against a very good baseball team."
Red River (24-5) did not have a runner reach second base until the seventh inning.
"In some games you just have to tip your caps to the other team," Grand Forks Red River head coach Mark Varriano said. "They pitched and hit better than we did (Friday). Our inability to get on base hurt us because we couldn't use our speed."
Davies advances to the state championship game for the first time in its program's five-year history. The title game is at approximately 6:30 p.m. today.
Red River plays in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.
Davies scored two runs in the first inning getting an RBI double from senior catcher Aidan Hartness and an RBI single from senior shortstop Tristan Hartness.
The Eagles added three runs in the third inning, powered by a two-run single by senior David Melhoff.
