VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It would have been the perfect day for baseball on Friday if it weren’t for the constant wind gusts that would surpass 30 mph at times. Despite the wind the large crowd on hand at Charlie Brown Field in Valley City were treated to a pitchers dual between both teams.
Hi-Liners would start righty Ethan Miller due to what coach Soderholm said in his pregame interview, “He has a funky delivery and hope it will keep the batters off-balance.” Miller certainly proved his coach to be right as the young man would go 4 innings giving up 0 hits, 0 runs, and striking out 2 Spartan batters. Braxton Jorissen would take over on the mound in the 5th inning. He would continue the stellar pitcher for Valley City. Jorrissen would go 3 innings giving up only 1 hit while striking out 2. The only blemish on the day for the Hi-Liners came in the top of the 6th inning. A lead off walk to Joey Bjorkman and a passed ball would give the Spartans a runner in scoring position. The next batter Connor Holm would lay down a bunt and the throw to first base would go over the head of the first baseman and to the fence scoring Bjorkman. The next batter for Fargo North Danny Boutain would have the same result happen with the arrant throw resulting in another run giving the Spartans the 2-0 lead.
The story of this game though has to be the outing from left handed pitcher Kaden Kvider of Fargo North. The pitcher had an incredible slider which replicated a disc. He also would mix in a curveball that with the gusts of wind would just drop into the strike zone. He only faced a couple of tense moments on the mound, but would trust his stuff to get him out of those situations. In all, Kvider would go 6+ innings giving up 4 hits 0 runs and striking out 11 Hi-Liner hitters. The lefty, who picked up the win, would be lifted with a runner on in the bottom of the 7th inning for Aaron Breitbach. The right hander would come on and get a pair of strike outs to close out that ball game for Fargo North and give the Spartans the 2-0 road win.
Next up for the hi-Liners is a home game on Monday against West Fargo. First pitch from Charlie Brown Field is at 5:00pm.