May 17—DICKINSON — The Dickinson High School Midgets are plowing towards the postseason with a thick schedule of games over the next few days in preparation for the North Dakota Class A Regional Tournament in Jamestown next week. So DHS's doubleheader sweep over Watford City High School — which came to town with a winless 0-16 record in the Western Dakota Association — could have presented itself as a minor speed-bump on the way to bigger things and resulted in an upset.

But it didn't, and the Midgets took the opener 12-3 and the nightcap 12-2 to improve their record to an overall 15-5 with a second-seeded 12-2 in the WDA.

"You can see some teams in this league, they 10-run somebody and then the very next game they get 10-runned, so you've got to be focused," DHS manager Pete Dobitz said. "We have to talk about consistent play and you've got to be consistent whether it's with your gloves or it's with your bats or even on the mound."

It was Senior Night, so in Game 2 12th-grade upperclassmen Davin Seibel, Chase Selle, Hunter Deschamp, Aidon Rodakowski, Landon Olson and Jacob Lucas all took the field in honor of their time with the team. Jadon Bast was suffering from a hamstring injury and might otherwise have been on the mound, but Rodakowski got the start and turned in a shortened, run-rule performance where he scattered 6 hits and gave up only 2 earned runs while striking out 2.

Seibel assumed the role of leadoff-hitter and turned in a 2-for-3 performance that included a run and a double, while Olson went 2-for-2 with a pair of runs as well. For the second-consecutive game in the twin-bill, junior left-fielder Jeremiah Jilek went yard, this one a two-run shot over the left-field wall that plated Lucas — who went 2-for-2 with three runs and an RBI — in the 3-run second inning.

Jilek would end up a combined 3-for-4 in the series with two dingers, 7 RBI and 6 runs.

"(The seniors) worked their tails off and they are such hard workers and we might be the only program in the state where freshmen practice with seniors; everybody practices together," Dobitz said. "Our freshmen get to see just how hard these seniors work and they've been great role-models all year ."

In the opener, the Midgets appeared unmotivated through the first three innings and initially were down a run before tying the game in the bottom of the third and then taking off for 3 more runs in the fourth inning. Seibel swatted a two-run single in the fourth frame to score Kaeden Krieg and Jilek and DHS took the advantage for good from there, but it wasn't before the team sent nine more runs across the plate to earn a 12-3 victory.

"I think one of the things we kind of did was that we were sleepwalking through the first couple of innings with some good, competitive games yesterday where we had to come back from being behind 3-nothing and then a suspended game and we had to focus hard right away," Dobitz said. "So, we weren't ready. In the third or fourth inning I challenged them and said, 'Hey, we gotta get going here.'"

Dickinson had built an 8-3 lead at the bottom of the fifth on the strength of an RBI single from Camden Kubas and a run that was walked home courtesy of Jilek's close eye, after Seibel sent two more across the plate with an RBI double at the bottom of the fifth. But with Jace Kovash reaching first after being hit by a pitch in the bottom of the sixth, Colin Tschetter walking and Krieg joining him to load the bases, Jilek sent a bomb into the left-center-field bushes for a grand-slam home run to close out the scoring for DHS. Kovash then came on in relief and notched 6 consecutive outs to close out Watford City the rest of the way with 4 strikeouts.

The Midgets will travel to Mandan today for another doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. and there could be another series scheduled between now and Thursday, but at press-time nothing was concrete. The Dickinson Press will update if more information becomes available between now and the start of the Regional Tournament on Thursday, May 25.

Despite the Canadian wildfires that are pushing into the state from a cold front and affecting the outside air-quality in Stark County, the team's games in Mandan — along with the girls' softball game that is being hosted at Fort Lincoln Elementary, also in Mandan — will continue as scheduled this afternoon because that area of the state hasn't seen the same effects. All outside school activities such as recess or after-school practices, however, have been canceled until further notice.

For more information about the Dickinson High School baseball team, please read The Dickinson Press online or in print and visit

https://www.wdasports.org/dickinson-baseball-2023.html

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Box Score

Game 1

WCHS 010 020 0xx — 3 2 0

DHS 001 344 xxx — 12 8 3

Batting:

2B — Davin Seibel. HR — Jeremiah Jilek. TB — Jace Kovash, Seibel 3, Camden Kubas 2, Kaeden Krieg, Aidon Rodakoski. Jilek 4. SAC — Chase Selle, Colin Tschetter. HBP — Kovash, Kubas, Jilek. SB — Kovash.

Pitching:

Hunter Deschamp — 5IP, 2H, 3R, 1ER, 4BB, 1K

Kovash — 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 4K.

Game 2 stats unavailable.

WCHS 001 10x — 2 5 2

DHS 134 4xx — 12 9 2

Batting:

2B — Seibel. HR — Jilek. TB — Seibel 3, Landon Olson 2, Jacob Lucas 2, Jilek 5, Rodakowski. SAC — Scheitten. HBP — Seibel, Olson.