The Valley City Saints participated in the Jack Brown Invitational this past weekend in Jamestown and finished in 4th place with a 1-2 record. The Saints split their pool play games on Sunday night with the Saints defeating East Grand Forks in game one 7-6 in extra innings but would lose the nightcap to the Jamestown Elks 4-1. The Saints then lost the 3rd place game to Tolna on Monday afternoon 9-4.

The Saints improved to 3-0 on the season in the first game Sunday evening with a thrilling 7-6 extra-inning victory over the East Grand Forks Mass. The Saints trailed 6-2 heading into their last at-bat before racking up four 7th inning runs to tie the game and force extras. Then Grady Karges, who came in as a pinch-runner in the 7th came through in his very first Saints at-bat with a walk-off bloop single in the bottom of the 8th.

The teams would trade runs in the 1st inning with East Grand Forks striking first on a Mike Lukkason RBI double. The Saints would counter on a Seth Soderholm RBI single. But the Mass would take advantage of control issues by Saints starter Chase Feller as they tacked on four 2nd inning runs giving East Grand Forks a 5-1 lead. The Saints would cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the 3rd on Soderholm’s 2nd RBI single of the game.

The score would remain 5-2 until the top of the 7th when Colton Dauksavage led off the inning with a triple off of Cal Fougner. Dauksavage would score the very next pitcher after Fougner uncorked a wild pitch, extending the Mass’ lead to 6-2.

Andrew Schaan led off the bottom of the 7th for the Saints with a single. Karges would come in as a courtesy runner for Schaan. Will Hough then reached base on a throwing error by Clarke Peterson. With Shaun Kourajian at-bat, the Saints would cut the lead to 6-3 when Karges scored on a passed ball. Kourajian walked, then Feller hit a grounder to 3rd where Peterson bobbled and then sailed the throw to 1st, scoring Hough and cutting the Mass’ lead to 6-4. Then Casario with two runners in scoring position laced a single to center scoring two runs and tying the game.

After Brady Engebretson stranded the bases loaded in the 8th, Kourajian began a two-out rally with a walk, then stole second. After a Feller walk, Karges would bloop a single just over the outstretched glove of the second baseman scoring Kourajian to win the game.

Brady Engebretson picked up the win for the Saints. Chase Feller, who started the game, went two-plus innings giving up 5 earned runs on 3 hits with 5 walks and 2 hit batsmen. Reed Butz threw four scoreless innings of relief for the Saints. Kourajian led the way offensively for Valley City, going 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored. Casario and Soderholm each had 2 hits and 2 RBI.

Neil Nagle took the loss for the Mass. Lukkason led the way offensively for East Grand Forks going 3-for-5 with a double and 2 RBI.

In the second game on Sunday night, the two-time Class AAA North Dakota Amateur Baseball state champion Jamestown Elks took advantage with 3 unearned runs in the 1st inning to hand the Saints their first loss of the season by a 4-1 score to advance to the championship game of the tournament.

Brady Engebretson, who closed out the first game, started the second game for Valley City. And in the first, it seemed like Engebretson would get out of trouble, but a two-out error by Seth Soderholm allowed Brian Rice to score and kept the inning alive for the Elks. After a walk and passed ball, Jordan Padilla laced a 2-run single that extended the Elks lead to 3-0 after the first inning. Valley City would get one an unearned run themselves in the bottom of the 1st thanks to three Elks errors. Soderholm would redeem himself with a single to right field that allowed Feller to move over to 3rd base and when the throw home went all the way to the backstop, Feller came across the plate and scored.

Jesse Johnson relieved Engebretson in the 2nd and it also seemed like Johnson would get out of the inning unscathed until Rice launched a solo home run deep to right-center that padded the Elks lead.

Both teams would have opportunities to score the rest of the game, but the pitchers for both teams would keep the bats silent and at the end, the Elks prevailed. Each team had four hits apiece.

After collecting the win in the first game, Engebretson took the hard-luck loss for the Saints in the 2nd game giving up 3 runs (none earned) on only one hit. Johnson did an excellent job out of the bullpen with 6 innings of three-hit ball. Soderholm, Cal Fougner, Reed Butz, and Ross Powell each had hits for the Saints.

Cam Multer started for the Elks and collected the win with 4 innings of three-hit ball with one unearned run. Mitch Dennis and Trey Evans combined for 3 shutout innings with Evans pitching a perfect 7th to earn the save. Rice, Brice Foster, Ryan Iliff, and Padilla had the Elks four hits.

In the 3rd place game, the Saints would take on the Tolna Trojans on a beautiful Memorial Day afternoon. Led by the Lund brothers, Jon and Logan, the Trojan bats caught fire with 10 of their 12 hits occurring in the first 3 innings as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead in a 9-4 victory over the Saints.

After a 1-2-3 1st inning by Tolna starter Logan Lund, the Trojans would begin the hit parade early. Kyal Williams began the scoring with an RBI single that scored courtesy runner Levi Hoyt. Then two batters later, Hunter Sand singled in Jon Lund making it 2-0 after 1.

After another perfect inning by Logan Lund, Tolna would add three more runs beginning with Lund helping his own cause on a single, scoring the courtesy runner Hoyt. Jon Lund then singled in Esten Beneda. After a groundout, Williams made the score 5-0 on a double that scored the other courtesy runner, Carter Anderson. That double would end the day for Saints starter, A.J. Casario. Tolna would load the bases, but reliever Evin Casey managed to wiggle his way out of trouble.

The storm was not yet over for the Saints as Tolna would not be finished. Beneda and Logan Lund would each collect one out singles bringing up Jon Lund. Lund then smacked Casey’s first-pitch fastball over the left-field fence making it 8-0 Tolna.

Valley City would finally get on the board in the 5th on an RBI single by A.J. Casario that scored Grady Karges. Tolna would answer back in the bottom half with an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Carter Anderson that scored Hoyt extending the Trojan lead to 9-1.

The Saints would cut Tolna’s lead to 9-3 with two 6th inning runs. Cal Fougner led off with a double, then Jesse Johnson would single in the courtesy runner Ross Powell. Johnson would score later that inning on a throwing error by Hunter Sand. Valley City would tack one more run in the 7th on an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Will Hough that scored Jake Miller.

A.J. Casario took the loss on the mound for the Saints as he went 1 1/3 innings giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs. Evin Casey pitched the remaining 4 2/3 innings giving up 5 hits and 4 runs with 3 being earned and 3 strikeouts. The Saints were led offensively by Fougner and Miller who each had a double. Karges, Carsario, Johnson, and Reed Butz would all have hits as well for the Saints.

Jon Lund collected the win for Tolna in four innings of relief giving up four runs (two earned) on 5 hits while striking out six. Logan Lund started for Tolna as he pitched 3 shutout innings allowing only one hit and striking out seven Saint batters. Beneda, Logan Lund, Jon Lund, Williams, and Eric Gilbertson all had two hits apiece for Tolna. Jon Lund had 4 RBI while Williams had 2 RBI. Levi Hoyt scored four times for the Trojans, all of which as a courtesy runner.

After the tournament, the Valley City Saints are now 3-2 on the season. The next action for the Saints will be this weekend with their annual trip to the Enderlin Indies Tournament. Valley City will play Friday night at 7:30 against the Enderlin Indies and at 5:45 PM on Saturday evening against the Beulah Blackjaws. The game time on Sunday will be determined by the results of games on Friday and Saturday. All games will be played at Hendrickson Field in Enderlin.