May 9, 2012

Wolves split with Crusaders

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

Watford City’s varsity baseball team improved its record to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in region play this past week as the Wolves picked up a big win over the Trinity Christian Crusaders.
The Wolves will be wrapping up their regular season action this week when they travel to Makoti and Williston. And according to Justin Johnsrud, Wolves’ head coach, the upcoming games will be a good warm-up for the upcoming regional tournament, which begins on May 19.
“We will be playing the top teams in the region this week,” states Johnsrud. “We will need to pitch well and make the routine plays.”
Watford 6, Trinity Christian 3
Trinity Christian 8, Watford 2

Watford City split with Trinity Christian last Friday with the Wolves downing the Crusaders, 6-3, in the first game and then losing the second game, 8-2.
“Game 1, which was the Region counter, went well for us,” stated Johnsrud. “Andrew Sampsel pitched well allowing only one hit and one run through four innings.”
With Sampsel doing his job on the mound, it was up to Watford City’s offense to score the runs. And the offense delivered as the Wolves scored six runs on six hits to take the key win.
Quayde Shores led off the bottom of the first with a single and would eventually come around to score for the Wolves, with Trinity Christian tying up the game in the top of the third.
Shawn Fulwider would give the Wolves a big boost in the fourth inning with a three-run homer that would put the Wolves on top 4-1.
Trinity rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Wolves would answer back with two runs of their own to round out the scoring, and to secure a 6-3 win for Watford City.
“We played well,” stated Johnsrud. “We had a couple of base running errors that kept us from putting a couple of more runs up on the board.  But we had good at bats and got a couple of clutch hits with runners in scoring position.”
Sampsel picked up the win for the Wolves as he struck out nine batters while walking five and allowing one hit and one run in four innings of pitching.
The second game was a slightly different story for the Wolves as Watford City had to shuffle up its lineup to accommodate players who were in a band concert.
“We had six players in the high school band concert,” stated Johnsrud. “So that left us with a jumbled lineup.”
The Crusaders led the Wolves 3-1 after the first inning of play and then added two runs in the third and three runs in the fourth innings to take the 8-2 win.
“Nate Egeberg pitched the first three innings and struggled at times,” stated Johnsrud. “We gave up too many walks and those ended up hurting us in the first and third innings. We did not hit well and were unable to generate much offense at all.”
Game 1                                                                            R    H    E
Watford City                           1    0    0    3    2    0    x    6    6    2
Trinity Christian                    0    0    1    0    2    0    0    3    5    4
Game 2                                                                             R    H    E
Trinity Christian                                 3    0    2    3    0    8    4    0
Watford City                                       1    0    0    1    0    2    4    3

WATFORD CITY WEATHER