May 18, 2008 - 04:06:02 CDT
It's a baseball truism that errors and walks eventually add up to trouble.Turtle Mountain avoided major damage for a couple of innings. However, 11 walks and seven errors eventually came home to roost in a 17-2 play-in loss to St. Mary's onSaturday at Municipal Ballpark.
Six of the Braves walks eventually came around to score. The seven miscues resulted in six unearned runs as Turtle Mountain saw its season come to an end at 1-20.
St. Mary's, 8-20-1, advances to the West Region tournament at Beulah. The Saints take on second-seeded Century in a 4 p.m. MDTgame on Thursday.
Sophomore right-hander EvanBelgarde of Turtle Mountain struggled mightily in the first inning, walking four and throwing 41 pitches. Yet he surrendered only one run, stranding three.
The Saints picked up two unearned runs in the second inning, but the Braves were still afloat with a manageable 3-1 deficit.
That changed radically as St.Mary's batted around in the third and fourth innings. Eleven St. Mary's batters produced seven runs in the third, and 13 Saints went to the plate in a seven-run fourth.
Matt Chuppe led the Saint hit parade with a double and triple for four RBIs. James Carroll singled twice, scoring twice and knocking in three runs. Cole Winbauer singled twice, scoring three runs and plating one.
With Belgarde and reliever Jordan Gunville struggling to find the plate, Chuppe said it wasn't easy to maintain good plate discipline.
"It definitely took a lot of concentration. ... Ican remember trying to force it on one pitch," Chuppe said. "... Ijust relaxed and tried to get a nice swing on it ... and I walked once."
Chuppe said it took a while to get a mental fix on the game because of the weird circumstances leading up to it.
As of Friday morning, the Saints thought they were free and clear of the play-in round with a sixth-place finish in the West Region.
Then it was discovered that senior pitcher Drew Eichele had exceeded his inning limit in a 12-inning victory over Jamestown a week earlier. So the Saints suddenly found themselves in a loser-out battle with Turtle Mountain for a berth in the regional tourney.
"We were a little lax at the beginning, but we got it together by the second inning,"Chuppe said. "...We were kind of shocked at their hitting at the beginning."
Turtle Mountain 100 10 - 2 3 7
St. Mary's 127 7x - 17 9 3
Evan Belgarde, Jordan Gunville (4) and Will Marcellais; JonHerold, Matt Chuppe (5) and Nick Jangula. W- Herold, 1-5. L - Belgarde, 0-3. HR-None.
Highlights:TM-Dylan DeCoteau 1-for-2, 2 SB; Belgarde 1-for-2, triple, 1 R. SM-James Carroll 2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBIs; Nick Jangula 1-for-4, double, 1 R, 1 RBI; Cole Winbauer 2-for-3, 3 R, 1 RBI; Chuppe 2-for-3, double, triple, 1 R, 4 RBIs; 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO; Herold 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO.
Records:TM 1-20, SM 8-20-1.
Comments are reviewed for taste, tone and language before posting.
Some comments may be used in the Tribune's print edition.
We value and respect your privacy, but The Bismarck Tribune might
disclose certain information to governmental entities if served with subpoena.