June 10, 2009

Walleye improve to 3-2 in Legion action

By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor

After dropping a pair of games by scores of 16-5 and 14-2 to Wolf Point in their season opener, the Watford City Walleye have picked up three wins in American Legion baseball action. The Walleye’s record now stands at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.
The next action for the Walleye will be on Wednesday, June 17, when they travel to Williston to take on the Keybirds “C” squad.

Wolf Point 16, Walleye 5
Wolf Point 14, Walleye 2

Wolf Point used strong pitching and solid batting to sweep the Walleye in Watford City’s season opening American Legion action on May 31.
Wolf Point took the first game 16-5 and then completed the sweep knocking off the Walleye 14-2 in the second game of the day.
“We hit the ball well and Rolfson did a good job on the mound,” stated Pat Spacher, Walleye head coach, of the losses. “But we were very rusty on defense, and you can’t give a good team extra opportunities.”
Rolfson was the losing pitcher in the first game, while Trey Jacobson picked up the loss in the second game.

Walleye 17, Renville County 14
In a slugfest that saw a combined 31 runs, Watford City scored nine runs in the last two innings to edge Renville County 17-14 on June 1.
The Walleye trailed Renville County 3-2 after the first inning before taking a 6-3 lead after three innings of play. Renville County would retake the lead in the fourth inning and then build the lead to 12-8 after six innings of play. But Watford City answered the challenge late in the game including a home run by Dillon Langerud to put the Walleye up for good.
At the plate, Langerud was three for six with three runs scored, while Nick Liebel was two for four with a double and one RBI, Trey Jacobson was three for four with a triple and four RBIs and James Neer was four for six with four RBIs.
“We were missing five players to the State FFA Convention,” stated Spacher. “But the kids did a good job of batting and we got a nice win.”

Walleye 15, Makoti 5
Walleye 3, Makoti 0

Watford City picked up two nice wins posting scores of 15-5 and 3-0 against Makoti on June 3.
Trey Jacobson picked up the win on the mound for the Walleye in the first game striking out ten batters, while Nick Liebel earned the win in the second game striking out six batters.
“Jacobson pitched a good game and really fought through some adversity,” stated Spacher. “Offensively, the bottom of our lineup did a good job all day of setting the table for the middle of our lineup.”
In the first game, Jacobson and Liebel were both three for four at the plate with five RBIs each, while Reid Johnson and Dillon Langerud each had two RBIs.
In the second game, Langerud was two for two at the plate with a triple and a double, while Jayden Grotte was one for two with two RBIs. 

WATFORD CITY WEATHER