In one of the most dominant displays of team pitching in Class A East Division Tournament history, the Valley City Post 60 Royals punched their ticket to the American Legion State Baseball Tournament in Mandan with a 4-0 shutout against Casselton.

Ethan Miller once again dazzled on the mound for Post 60, tossing a complete game shutout against the Haymakers in the State Qualifier. This was his second shutout in his last three games. Miller’s ERA (Earned Run Average) through his last four starts is 0.56, and he’s only allowed two earned runs in his previous 25 innings.

Through their first four tournament games, Valley City pitchers only allowed two earned runs through 27 innings pitched, suitable for a 0.51 ERA. The Royals also got complete game efforts from James Schwehr and Carver Peterson, who picked up the save in the first game against the West Fargo Vets.

The Post 60 Royals did most of their damage with two outs. James Schwehr, Jack Samuelson, and Corbyn Powell all drove in runs with two-out singles in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings, with the other run coming on a double play in the top of the fifth. Defensively, the Royals shined, not committing an error for the first time in the tournament, as Miller did a stellar job of inducing soft contact.

The Royals lost 5-2 Devils Lake in the 3rd place game and will be the 4th seed out of the east for the upcoming state tournament as the Royals got several strong innings of relief pitching out of Andrew Sykora. The state tournament begins on August 1st, and all of the Valley City Post 60 games can be heard on 1490 AM/ 96.3 FM KOVC and online at NewsDakota.com.