ENDERLIN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) The Enderlin/Maple Valley Falcons and Kindred-Richland Vikings will play a best-of-three championship series in Kindred starting Monday evening after advancing from the first two rounds of the Class B Region I Baseball Tournament Friday night at Hendrickson Field.
The third ranked Falcons defeated the top seeded Oakes Tornadoes in an incredible game 7-6 to end Friday night’s play.
EMV jumped on top early in the contest with three runs, two of them driven in by Jade Pulkrabek .
Oakes would come back by scoring the next five runs, with two scoring off the bat of Coy Awender to give the Tornadoes the lead after three innings.
But the Falcons would answer and take the lead back in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run blast from Pulkrabek.
Each team would score a run in the sixth, and in the seventh, Brandon Utke shut it down in order to send the Falcons to the title round.
Dakota Mark was the winning pitcher, going four innings with seven strikeouts, while Mike McKenna took the loss with three strikeouts. Utke earned a two inning save with four strikeouts.
In earlier action, the Falcons defeated #5 LaMoure-Litchville/Marion 6-1. Jacob Johnson allowed a single run on three hits while striking out 12. Maclaine Bierman scored the Loboe run on a solo home run in the first.
The second seeded Vikings of Kindred-Richland held off Central Cass 1-0, with the lone run in the game scored on a home run by Trenton Duchscherer to advance to Monday. The fourth ranked Squirrels defeated #6 Fargo Oak Grove 7-2 to start the day’s action.
The Class B Region I Championship Series will be played at Kindred High on Monday starting at 5 p.m. with game one, followed 20 minutes after with the second game. If a third game is needed, it will be played at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Kindred. The winner advances to the Class B State Tournament at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown.
Coverage of the Championship Round can be heard on Q101.1 FM and NewsDakota.com.