The Dickinson Roughriders American Legion baseball team has been here before.

Now they want to prove they belong in the regional.

Dickinson earned a berth in this weekend's Midwest Regional by virtue of the Class A state championship the Roughriders won Sunday.

Dickinson will face Minnesota state champion Apple Valley in today's first round of the double-elimination tournament. Both the Roughriders and Apple Valley are 38-9 so far this season.

"Our goal was obviously to win state," Dickinson's Ben Herauf said. "Now we want to make a little more noise in this year's regional."

The eight-team tournament will take place in Minnetonka, Minn., a western suburb of the Twin Cities. It runs from today through Monday.

Dickinson won a game and lost two in last year's regional. The Roughriders are looking for more this time around.

"If we throw strikes and don't make errors we will be just fine," Dickinson's Stephen Laylock said. "We are going to put runs on the scoreboard.

"If we can do that, we will have a helluva shot to win a few games and even the regional."

Laylock won the state championship game as a reliever, while Eric Seiler, Kyle Breen and Tommy Peters also won tournament games. Breen won his in relief of Michael Steve.

"We will face some better hitting teams at the regional," Laylock said. "We will need to be more exact with our pitchers."

Laylock, Seiler and Tyler Steffan are Dickinson's top three pitchers.

The Roughriders have had little trouble putting up runs so far this season. Dickinson scored 70 runs in its four state tournament games, good enough for a 17.5 average.

Roughriders' slugger Cole Frenzel knows how the Roughriders need to get better.

"We need to clean it up on the defensive side," Frenzel said.

For the Dickinson pitching staff, this weekend comes down to one very simple thing.

"We just need our pitchers to throw strikes," Frenzel said.

Dickinson rolled to its second straight state championship, finishing it off with a 13-9 victory over Fargo on Sunday in Wahpeton.

"We hit the ball really well," Frenzel said. "That is what we were hoping to do."

Dickinson hit 10 home runs in its four wins at the state tournament. Frenzel, Herauf, Steffan, Peters, Steve and Seiler all went yard. Frenzel now has 25 home runs this season, while Herauf has hit 15.

Herauf studded out for the Roughriders offense, going 18-for-25 with five homers and 22 runs batted in, easily earning his second straight state tournament MVP award.

"Our lineup really produced at the state tournament," Herauf said. "The bottom of the order really stepped up."

No matter what happens, it is quite an accomplishment making the regionals two years in a row.

"We got our feet wet last year," Laylock said. "This is nothing new for us now."

The Roughriders have high expectations for this year's regional.

"We have nothing to lose," Frenzel said. "We want to go down there, give it our best shot and try to win it."

Other teams in the tournament are host Minnetonka, Iowa state champion Dubuque (12-3), Kansas state champ Pittsburg (28-3), South Dakota state champion Rapid City (43-19), Nebraska state champ Omaha (31-15) and Missouri state champion Festus (34-3).

"We still have no pressure on us," Laylock said. "Being from North Dakota, nobody expects us to win."

Dickinson will need to win four games to win the regional.

"We are not just happy getting there," Herauf said. "We want to compete and be in the regional games."

If the Roughriders win the Midwest Regional, they earn a berth in the American Legion World Series, scheduled for Aug. 14-18 in Fargo.