Kari Gibb/MDN Ayden Sauerbrei (14), a redshirt freshman at Minot State University, covers first base for the out from the mound while Sam Holthaus (23), a sophomore at Nova Southeastern University, catches and throws the ball and Xavier Esquer (22), a redshirt freshman at the University of California, backs them up in the penultimate game of the season on Friday, August 9, against the MoonDogs at Corbett Field.
The Minot Hot Tots will play their final game of the 2024 Northwoods League season at Corbett Field today, August 10. The Tots returned from an away trip to host the Mankato MoonDogs for two games. Saturday will be the final game of the season against the MoonDogs.
Mankato Moondogs 1,
Hot little things 0
The Mankato MoonDogs traveled to Minot for their final two games of the regular season. The first game was played on Friday, August 9th at Corbett Field and fans had to endure seven innings of scoreless baseball. Mankato scored a run in the top of the eighth inning when Nico Libed was walked with the bases loaded and Matthew Fleischhacker singled for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.
No runs were scored in the bottom of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth inning. Minot was able to score one run to tie the game and two runs to win in the bottom of the ninth inning. With one out, Adrian Dominguez was walked to first base to tie the game. With two outs, Sam Holthaus was the last hope of continuing the game and was struck out to end the game.
Minot was 5-for-31 as a team with two errors. Jaden Alberson was 2-for-3 at bat while Anthony Potestio, Xavier Esquer and Dominguez each had one hit in the close game. The Hot Tots left 6 batters on base.
Ayden Sauerbrei pitched seven and one-third innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking two batters and getting two strikeouts. Tanner Mueller pitched one and two-thirds innings, walking four batters and getting one strikeout in relief.
As a team, Mankato struck out 4 of 31 batters and committed just one error. Dylan Waite pitched seven and two-thirds innings, allowing five hits and recording nine strikeouts. Nate Zyzda pitched one and one-third innings, walking one batter and recording three strikeouts in relief.
Hot Tots 10, Badlands Big Sticks 9 (11)
DICKINSON – In the second of two road games, Minot and Badlands battled it out. The Hot Tots had 14 hits, while the Big Sticks had nine, resulting in a 10-9 victory.
Minot scored three runs in the top of the third, two in the top of the fourth and the top of the eleventh inning, and one run each in the top of the sixth, eighth and tenth innings. Badlands scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and seventh innings, and one run each in the bottom of the third, tenth and eleventh innings. By limiting the Big Sticks to one run in the bottom of the eleventh inning, the game could not go into the 12th inning and Badlands could not win.
Minot was 14 of 44 batters with two errors as a team. Peyton Becker was 4 of 7 batters with two RBIs. Keanu Jacobs-Guishard was 2 of 5 while Adrian Dominguez was 2 of 6 batters. Every Hot Tots batter had at least one hit in the win. Minot left 18 batters on base.
Dale Fry pitched four and one-third innings, allowing five hits on five hits – four of them earned. Griffin Dosan pitched one and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs on two hits. Will Wojtasiak pitched one inning, while Lucas Aguirre pitched three innings, allowing one run. Eli Niemiec pitched one inning as a relief pitcher, allowing one run on one hit.
As a team, Badlands hit 8 of 39 and had one error. Joshua Pernetti hit 2 of 4 with two RBIs, while Gabe Arcy also hit 2 of 6 with two RBIs. The Big Sticks left 12 on base.
Aidan Vanrider pitched three innings and allowed three runs — two earned — on four hits. Cooper Vanluchene pitched one inning and allowed two runs on one hit. Mitchell Mussler pitched four and one-third innings and allowed two runs on six hits. Evan Appelwick pitched one and two-thirds innings and allowed one run on one hit. Dawson Walls pitched one inning and allowed two runs on two hits as a relief pitcher.
