PREP BASEBALL: Roughriders beat Grand Forks Central 6-1

Brady Regimbal is frustrating opposing hitters. The seventh inning is frustrating the Grand Forks Red River pitcher.

Regimbal won his third consecutive decision Tuesday, tossing a four-hitter as the Roughriders beat Grand Forks Central 6-1 in high school baseball at Kraft Field.

Regimbal has allowed one run in back-to-back complete-game wins. “It (run) came in the seventh inning in both games,’’ the left-hander said. “I have to learn to finish better.’’

Regimbal, 3-1, had a two-hitter going through six innings. In the seventh, Nick Lund beat out a slow roller for a leadoff single, advanced to third on Noah Cieklinski’s pop-fly single down the right-field line, then scored on a grounder by Rakeem Wright.

“It isn’t a case of running out of juice,’’ Red River coach Mark Varriano said. “Brady’s a competitor. But I’ve never seen a pitcher who is so snake-bitten by bloopers and bleeders for hits. It happens all the time.

“And you have to give Central credit. They saw him a few times and were getting better at-bats at the end.’’

Regimbal finished with six strikeouts while not walking a batter.

“I was throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes,’’ Regimbal said. “That helps. Getting ahead in the count allows you to throw more off-speed pitches and keep batters off balance. And when you get four runs early, it’s a different mindset. You can be more aggressive.’’

While Regimbal threw strikes, control problems put Central in a hole the Knights couldn’t escape.

Red River scored four in the first inning on just one hit, a two-run single up the middle by Brandon Walters. Losing pitcher Alex Severson walked four batters in the inning - three of whom went on to score - and the Knights committed two errors in the inning.

“You can’t spot a good team like Red River four runs,’’ Central coach Kyle Beckstead said. “Walks and errors killed us. Give Alex credit, though. He didn’t quit. He kept at it and got better as the game went along.’’

Red River added two more runs in the fifth, on a Ty Straus sacrifice fly and a line-drive single up the middle by Christian Bauduin to knock in the final run.

“We came out disciplined at the plate,’’ Varriano said. “And we’ve been pretty consistent about that all year.’’

Red River finished with seven hits, two of them by Jordan Lunski. In the final six innings, Central pitchers walked only three batters.