Prep baseball: Riders upset Fargo North in East Region tournament

Grand Forks Red River baseball coach Mark Varriano wasn't overly concerned when Ryne Anderson went over 100 pitches late in Thursday's game.

Neither was Anderson.

The junior left-hander gave up three hits and closed out the game with four scoreless innings to lead the sixth-seeded Roughriders to a 4-3 upset victory over third-seeded Fargo North in the first round of the East Region tournament at Kraft Field.

"This is the first time we've had Ryne over 100 pitches," Varriano said. "He's a competitor. He said he felt good. In that situation you have to trust what he says."

Anderson shared his Varriano's confidence.

"He knew I wasn't coming out," Anderson said. "I was either going to win the game for us, or I was going to lose it."

The Riders scored the deciding run in the sixth inning. Sam King led off with a walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt by Casey Fugleberg. Jake LaDouceur broke the 3-3 tie with a single to left field.

"We're not a doubles and triples team," Varriano said. "We have to manufacture runs. That's why it's so important that we take a good approach at the plate every time."

The Roughriders spotted Anderson two runs before he stepped on the mound. With the bases loaded in the top of the first, Andrew Butkowski walked to score the first run. In the next at-bat, King singled to make it 2-0.

Ben Mohr, John Schmidt and Zach Braaten scored for the Bruins in the third inning.

Fargo South 5, Grand Forks Central 0: David Ernst threw a no-hitter to lead No. 2 Fargo South to a victory over No. 7 Grand Forks Central.

"You have to tip your hat to the pitcher," Central coach Mike McNamara said. "He threw an outstanding ballgame."

The Bruins jumped to a lead in the first when Matt Achter knocked in Justin Fahy with an RBI triple. Ernst helped his cause by singling home Achter in the next at-bat.

Central threatened in the fifth when Mick Koski and Derek Schipper each walked to start the inning. But Ernst retired the next three batters to spoil the Knights' rally.

Achter started another two-run spurt in the sixth inning when he doubled and scored on a Matt Wawers single.

"There were some balls that we didn't catch that really hurt us," McNamara said. "If we make those plays it's a two-run game going into the seventh inning."

West Fargo 1, Devils Lake 0: Spencer Flaten scored the game-winning run in the fifth inning and Matt Strahm threw a complete-game shutout to lead West Fargo past Devils Lake.

Flaten finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, while Strahm gave up only five hits.

Ethan Kleinknecht, who suffered the loss, went 2-for-4 for Devils Lake.

Fargo Shanley 9, Wahpeton 1: Mike Jones had two doubles and five RBIs to lead Fargo Shanley past Wahpeton.

Jones also picked up the win for the top-seeded Deacons.

Andy Schweigert had two hits and four runs, while Eric Jagim added three runs and two RBIs for the Deacons.

Sam Weisz had a hit and scored Wahpeton's lone run.