The Mandan Chiefs struck while the iron was hot.

They struck with just barely enough muscle, getting five runs off Minot right-hander Clay Kallias in three innings. That proved to be enough for a 5-4 Legion baseball victory in Monday night's doubleheader at Memorial Ballpark.

Minot bounced back to earn a split with a 4-3 victory in the nightcap.

Kallias, a workhorse for the Vistas over the years, was tagged for two runs in the second inning and three in the third.

A single by Matt Keller and back-to-back doubles by Jared Quast and Steve Pletan gave Mandan two runs before a man was retired in the bottom of the second inning.

Jared Muth's leadoff double started a three-run uprising in the third. Muth came around to score on a throwing error by Kallias. A walk and an error by shortstop Jordan Rubbelke set up two more runs, both unearned. Those scored on a single by Keller and a sacrifice fly by Sam Salveson.

Kallias shut the door on the Mandan offense at that point, but the Vista hitters were unable to fully close the gap.

"(Kallias) is good. ¦ I think early in the game he had trouble throwing his slider for strikes and that's his out pitch," Pletan said. "He had to throw his fastball and we took advantage of it. We jumped on him early."

Mandan lefty Reid Jungling surrendered an unearned run in the second inning, but averted a big inning by leaving the sacks full.

Jungling got on track in the third and put together three 1-2-3 innings in a row.

Minot roughed Jungling up in the sixth, opening the inning with four straight hits. Erick Merck led off with an infield hit and rode home on Ryan Bollinger's double. Ben Kramer reached base on a bad-hop single and Jordan Rubbelke singled Bollinger home. All told, eight men batted before Jungling escaped the inning with the bases loaded.

"I was feeling good during the sixth, but they were getting to me and it was time to get someone else in there," said Jungling, who threw 90 pitches.

The Mandan lefty said he had to battle through the first couple of innings until he got command of his pitches. "I had trouble with the tight strike zone right away ¦ and I was a little bit up with my pitches. But as the game went along ¦ I started to get the ball down."

Chiefs coach Ryne Jungling took the ball from Reid, a finesse pitcher, and handed it to hard-throwing Jared Quast to start the seventh inning.

Quast gave up a single to Bollinger and an RBI double to Ben Kramer but picked up his second save in two opportunities.

Minot evened the score with Quast in the nightcap.

Mandan, held to two hits by Alex Fornshell through five innings, rallied for two runs in the sixth to go ahead 3-2, its first lead of the game.

Quast came on in the seventh to finish up, but Minot had other ideas. Bollinger led off with a double and Kallias reached base when his two-hopper trickled off third baseman Jay Flaa's glove for an error. Jordan Rubbelke singled home Bollinger to tie the game and J.D. Allard drilled an RBI double to left-center to put Minot back in the lead 4-3.

Right-hander Andy Conlon came on to quell the Vista rally with two strikeouts, but the damage was done.

Allard, a lefty who relieved in the sixth to shut down Mandan's rally with a double play, blanked the Chiefs in the bottom of the seventh to pick up his first victory.

Allard and Rubbelke had three hits apiece as Minot piled up a dozen safeties in the nightcap. Keller rapped out two singles and a double for Mandan.

Mandan 5, Minot 4

Minot 010 002 1 - 4 8 2

Mandan 023 000 x - 5 8 2

Clay Kallias, Jordan Rubbelke (6) and Ben Kramer; Reid Jungling, Jared Quast (7) and Steven Serr. W - Jungling, 3-2. L - Kallias, 1-3. Save - Quast. HR - None.

Highlights: Minot - Erick Merck 2-for-4, 1 R; Ryan Bollinger 2-for-4, double, 2 R, 1 RBI; Kramer 2-for-4, double, 1 RBI. Mandan -Matt Keller 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI; Quast 1-for-3, double, 1 R; Steve Pletan 2-for-3, double, 2 RBI, 1 SB; Jungling 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO.

Minot 4, Mandan 3

Minot 010 010 2 - 4 12 1

Mandan 000 102 0 - 3 4 1

Alex Fornshell, D.J. Allard (6) and Ben Kramer; Jason Mellmer, Jared Quast (7), Andy Conlon (7) and Steven Serr. W - Allard, 1-2. L - Quast, 2-1. HR - None.

Highlights: Minot - Ryan Bollinger 2-for-4, double, 2 R, 1 SB; Clay Kallias 2-for-4, 1 SB; Jordan Rubbelke 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Allard 3-for-4, double, 1 RBI; 1 2-3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO. Mandan - Matt Keller 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 SB; Steve Pletan 1-for-2, double, 1 R, 1 RBI.

Records: Minot 13-10, Mandan 12-13.