At 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, Bismarck pitcher Austin Zorn was probably buffeted more by Friday's intense winds than he was by the St. Mary's bats.

The sophomore right-hander turned in a near-perfect relief performance as the Demonstrimmed St. Mary's 3-2 to wrap up regular season play at Municipal Ballpark.

With the victory, Bismarck averted playing in today's West Region Tournament play-in round. St. Mary's takes on Beulah-Hazen at 1 p.m. today at Haaland Field for a spot in the regional tournament, which begins Thursday in Mandan.

Jamestown plays host to Turtle Mountain in the other play-in game today at 2 p.m.

St. Mary's had just tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Bismarck coach Troy Olson summoned Zorn to the hill.

Cole Winbauer, who drilled an RBIdouble, was on second base and Nathan Jackson stood at third with one out.

Zorn struck out the first man he faced, Adam Biwer, with a fastball. He then got Matt Chuppe on a roller to shortstop to snuff out the St. Mary's rally.

"That was gutsy for a grade-tenner to come into a spot like that," Olson said.

The first 10 Saints batters to face Zorn went down in order, three on strikeouts, before Chuppe reached him for a two-out single in the seventh inning. Zorn coaxed a groundball force out from the next batter, cleanup man Nick Bury, to close out the game.

Zorn said he was too immersed in the action to be nervous when he moved from second to the mound.

"I sort of enjoy the thrill of getting us out of situations," he said.

Zorn didn't overpower the Saints, but got a lot of mileage out of big-breaking curveball.

"(The curve)is a good pitch but it's not my favorite pitch. I have a lot more control over my fastball,"he said.

Zorn started in his first appearance of the season but has worked in relief since, winning three of four decisions with a save.

"Give Zorn credit. He made the pitches when he had to," Saints coach Ben Schafer said.

Bismarck broke the deadlock in the fifth inning on Tyler Peterson's one-out single and SamIngemansen's two-out triple into the gap in right center. Ingemansen said he jumped on a fastball away.

"He hadn't thrown a curveball for awhile, so I was sitting on fastball, and he got one outside and I went with it and rode the wind," Imgemansen said. "It was probably a mistake, and I got lucky."

St. Mary's took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Cole Winbauer singled, stole second, was bunted to third and scored on Bury's single.

Ingemansen and ZachJacobson rapped RBIsingles in the top of the third to give Bismarck a 2-1 lead.

St. Mary's knotted the score in the fourth, Winbauer doubling home NickJangula for his third hit of the day.

Schafer said Bury, 1-2, took a tough loss.

"Bury pitched a great game. He threw strikes and kept us in the ballgame," Schafer said. "He just left a couple of mistakes up."

The Saints right-hander threw 110 pitches, 70 of them strikes.

Ingemansen said Friday's contest was in a sense the beginning of tournament play for the Demons.

"We wanted to make sure we won so we could stay out of the play-in game," he said.

Schafer said he will pitch either James Carroll (3-2) or Matt Chuppe (2-2)today against Beulah-Hazen. Both are right-handers.

n NOTES:St. Mary's has played Beulah-Hazen twice, winning 11-1 and 12-2 on May 7. … Friday's loss was the first in eight games for the Saints. … Bismarck is 8-3 after hitting a season low of 4-5 on April 27. … The teams were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday, but with the temperature at 48 and winds gusting to 36 mph the nonregional five-inning game was dropped.

Bismarck 002 010 0 - 3 8 0

St. Mary's 100 100 0 - 2 8 2

Tyler Peterson, Austin Zorn (4) and Sam Ingemansen; NickBury and Nick Jangula. W - Zorn, 3-1. L- Bury, 1-2. HR- None.

Highlights:B-Tyler Peterson 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 SB; Alex Deyle 2-for-4, 2 SB; Ingemansen 2-for-4, triple, 1 R, 2 RBIs; ZachJacobson 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 SB; Zorn 3 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO. SM-Cole Winbauer 3-for-4, double, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB; Nathan Jackson 2-for-3; Bury 1-for-4, 1 RBI; 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.

Records:Bismarck 8-7 West Region, 12-9 overall; St. Mary's 8-10, 12-13.