VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City Saints amateur baseball team defeated the Fargo Mets 1-0 last night in the season opener for both teams at Charlie Brown Memorial Field.
Andrew Schaan scored from third in the 3rd inning on a mishandled throw from the outfield by the second baseman, which was all the support Saints starting pitcher Reed Butz needed as he struck out 17 Mets batters in seven strong innings, including striking out the first ten batters he faced.
The Saints first real threat came in the bottom of the 2nd inning when Gavin Wright laced a double into the left-center field gap. Wright however was doubled off when Matt Suda hit a soft liner to the shortstop and Wright got caught too far off the bag to end the inning.
Valley City would however get the ball rolling in their half of the 3rd. After the first two batters struck out, Schaan would draw a walk. The next batter, Carlos Turpo blooped in a hustle double with Schaan advancing to third. As the throw came into second base, the ball would deflect off the glove of the second baseman and roll far enough away allowing Schaan to score on the error and Turpo to move up to third. AJ Casario flew out to left to end the inning.
The Mets would threaten in the top of the 4th as Butz twice followed a strikeout with a walk. However, Butz would get out of the inning with no harm by striking out his 12th batter of the game. The Saints would also threaten in their half of the 4th as well but nothing would come from it.
The Mets would get something going in both the 6th and 7th innings off of Butz. Tom Lindgren would finally get the first Mets hit of the game with two outs in the 6th. Lindgren would advance to second on an errant pickoff throw by Butz, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Butz would settle down and strike out TJ Hopkins to end the threat. Butz would hit Andrew Penney to lead off the 7th, but would get the next two batters out via strikeout and a groundout. A wild pitch and a walk would put runners on the corners for the Mets, but Butz would induce a groundout to short to end the inning.
The Saints would attempt to put some insurance runs on the board in the 8th inning as Wright led off with a walk and Mason Nemitz reached on an error. Ross Powell grounded out on a dribbler to the pitcher, but he advanced both runners 90 feet. However, the Saints would not score as a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning.
Will Hlady, who pitched the 8th inning, struck out the side in the 9th and collected the save in the process.
Butz would earn not only the win on the mound, but the Saints Swag Chain as well with his dominant performance. In his seven innings of work, Butz allowed one hit while walking three and striking out 17. Hlady would strike out four only allowing one hit in his two innings of relief. David Demeter led the Saints offense with a 2-for-3 performance with Wright, Turpo, and Cal Fougner collecting one hit a piece.
Mets starter Parker Janske was the hard luck loser as in his three innings of work, allowed one unearned run on three hits while walking one and striking out three. Valley City native Tom Paulson pitched three shutout innings in relief allowing only two hits while striking out two. Lindgren and Alex Petterson had the Mets only two hits of the game.
The next action for the Valley City Saints (1-0) will be this coming Sunday, May 22nd as they host a doubleheader at Charlie Brown Memorial Field against the defending Region 10C champions from Minnesota, the Ada Athletics. Game 1’s first pitch will be at 1:00 PM. In addition, the Saints will be serving burgers and hot dogs for the game on Sunday.