Eight straight wins for Walleye
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Watford City’s American Legion baseball team continued to pile up wins this past week as the Walleye extended their winning streak to eight games with a pair of wins over Williston before defeating Tioga.
This week, the Walleye will be hosting Crosby on Wednesday, before traveling to Sidney on Friday and to Makoti on Tuesday.
The Walleye’s season record is 8-2 overall and 3-0 in league play.
“We had a solid week of baseball with three good pitching performances ending with James Neer having a dominant outing,” stated Pat Spacher, Walleye head coach. “We played good defense in spots but need to get more consistent. We continue to get the job done at the plate.”
Walleye 9, Williston 6
Walleye 15, Williston 3
Douglas Rolfson picked up the win with Nick Liebel coming in to earn the save on the mound as the Walleye defeated the Williston Oilers 9-6 and 15-3 in double-header action last Wednesday.
The Walleye and Oilers both scored a run in the first inning before Watford City upped their lead to 6-3 at the end of four innings of play.
Williston would cut Watford City’s lead to 7-6 at the end of the sixth inning of play, but the Walleye would knock in a pair of runs in the seventh inning to take the win.
On the mound, Rolfson had eight strike-outs while giving up nine hits and four base on balls in six innings of work.
At the plate, Dillon Langerud was two for four with a double and one RBI, Trey Jacobson was two for five with a double and two RBIs, Reid Johnson was two for four with a double and one RBI, and Jayden Grotte was three for four with one RBI.
In the second game of the evening, the Walleye out-hit the Oilers 17-4 to pick up a 15-3 win.
Nick Liebel had a strong showing on the mound pitching the entire game as he struck out nine batters, while giving up five base on balls and four hits. Liebel also had a solid performance at the plate going two for five with a double and a home run.
At the plate, Trey Jacobson was two for two with a triple and two RBIs, Reid Johnson was two for four with two RBIs, Paul Martin was three for three with a double and one RBI, Brandon Taylor was three for four with two RBIs and Jayden Grotte was three for four with two RBIs.
Walleye 5, Tioga 2
Not even a downpour that delayed the start of the game by nearly an hour, could dampen the Walleye’s efforts last Thursday as Watford City knocked off Tioga 5-2 to pick up their eighth straight win.
The Walleye got off to a good start leading Tioga 3-0 after two innings of play and then took the win with both teams scoring two runs in the fifth inning.
James Neer pitched the complete game for the Walleye striking out 12 batters while giving up just four hits in seven innings of work.
At the plate, Neer went two for two with one RBI, while Trey Jacobson was two for three with two doubles and Nick Liebel was one for three with one RBI.