May 26—DICKINSON — With two wins already under their belts, the Badlands Big Sticks kept up the pressure with an 8-2 victory on Thursday, May 25, 2023 to sweep the Spearfish (SD) Sasquatch, three games to none. Badlands (3-0) took the lead in the fourth inning, 6-2, and never looked back en route to the win, and now will hit the road to Pierre, SD to play the Oahe Zap from Friday, May 26 to Sunday, May 28 and will be off Memorial Day before welcoming the Zap back here in Dickinson from May 30 to June 1 at Dakota Community Bank and Trust Ballpark.

On Thursday, neither team scored in the first two frames to open the game, but the Big Sticks took a 2-0 lead as Dickinson native and third-baseman Troy Berg led off the inning with a single and was driven home on the next at-bat by center-fielder Quade Peters's moon-shot over the left-field wall. Peters would end up going 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a pair of runs with a stolen base on a triple and a homer for 8 total bases in the game to pace the Big Sticks at the plate, throughout.

The Sasquatch (0-3) crept up from behind and tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fourth on an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, but in the bottom of the inning Spearfish reliever Cameron Murphy balked home Big Sticks designated hitter Preston Jones after Jones walked and Sasquatch starter Julio Romero walked the next two batters — Dickinson State University shortstop Balas Buckmaster and catcher Isaac Huettl — before Romero was chased from the game with the bases loaded.

After the balk-batted-in gave them a 3-0 lead, the Big Sticks took over from there with a single to center-field from second-baseman Alex Urlaub that scored Buckmaster and Huettl to clear the bases. Urlaub advanced to second on a single from Peters and to third on a steal before being sent home on a sacrifice fly from Badlands right-fielder Danny Rogers for a 6-2 lead at the end of four.

Osborn singled in Berg in the seventh inning for a 7-2 lead and the Big Sticks scored another in the bottom of the eighth on a wild pitch that Peters took advantage of to cross the plate and close out the scoring at 8-2 for the win.

While Dickinson players, natives and projects helped fuel the fireworks with the Big Sticks during the game, another Western Edge standout — Kobe Krenz — earned player-of-the-game credit on the mound with a six-inning, 5-hit game that featured 6Ks and only a pair of walks to keep the Sasquatch in hiding all night. Reliever Cristian Castilla came on for the final three innings and held Spearfish scoreless the rest of the way while striking out 2 more.

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. Tickets are available online or at the gate.

Box Score

SQCH 000 200 000 — 2 8 1

STIX 002 401 01x — 8 7 1

Batting

3B — Quade Peters. HR — Peters. TB — Peters 8, Preston Jones 1, Troy Berg 1, Alex Urlaub 1, Joe Osborn 1. SF — Osborn. SB — Berg, Urlaub, Peters.

Pitching

Kobe Krenz — 6IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K

Cristian Castilla — 3IP, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 2K