Sectional sweep of Dickinson leaves standings in air
By Robyn Rohde, BHG News Service
Kip Erickson has had the same monologue all season long: throwing strikes and playing low-error defense is the way Washburn is going to remain competitive in American Legion baseball. Monday afternoon, the head coach saw the evidence of the wisdom in his words. In a non-sectional doubleheader against the Bismarck Senior Babe Ruth team, Washburn got a second chance to toss the K’s and a solid defensive effort, despite a few hiccups, to stay with the team that previously enforced the 10-run mercy rule against them twice. The first three innings Monday were pretty quiet until the Reps’ Cole Winbauer inched in an RBI off a double to crack into the scoreboard. It only took the switching of sides for Post 12 to find the base path home. Cole Bender was 2-for-3 with a double and Jeff Rasmussen was 2-for-2 on the night as Washburn evened the game 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning. "We were right in that game with them. Like I keep saying, if we throw strikes and play defense, we’ll be in every game," Erickson said. Despite the absence of two key Washburn players, Mitch Wachendorf and Charlie Retterath, Post 12 kept the ball in the gloves as they shut down their opponents in the bottom of the fourth. Turnaround was fair play in the top of the fifth as again Washburn left runners stranded in scoring position. A few errors snowballed the damage in the bottom of the fifth inning as Bismarck was able to score three unearned runs in the frame.
