WEST LEBANON, Ind. — Interstate matchups like Tuesday’s baseball game between Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin and Seeger are excellent opportunities for both teams to challenge themselves.
Neither the Blue Devils nor the Patriots have to worry about seeing the other in the postseason and their matchup doesn’t factor into their respective conference standings. It’s just a chance to play a postseason-type game without any consequences.
Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin looked more postseason-ready, taking advantage of several Seeger miscues scoring 11 runs in the final three innings to post a 12-2 victory.
“We’ve been on a roll lately and playing some pretty good baseball,’’ said Seeger coach Mike Holland, whose team had won five straight before Tuesday. “We talk a lot about being mentally engaged. We can work around physical mistakes but mental mistakes are the ones that are going to hurt us. That’s what happened.
“A couple of missed opportunities. We could have rolled two double plays but we didn’t, a miscommunication on a fly ball, and a missed rundown opportunity and it snowballed from there.’’
The inning that hurt the Patriots (11-9) was the fifth as the Blue Devils sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring six times on four hits and two errors. Jadyn Peters and Landen Packard had run-scoring hits in the frame for Bis-Henn/Ross-Al, but the biggest hit was a double from leadoff batter Cruz Dubois that got things started.
“As a leadoff hitter, you always have to put in the play and always try to get on base,’’ said Dubois, who was 2-for-3 with two walks and four runs scored.
The Blue Devils would add three more runs in the six and two more in the seventh, but that came after leaving the bases loaded in the first inning.
“That didn’t really affect us either way,’’ said Dubois, when asked about not getting a run in the first. “You just keep going and just keep trying to produce runs.’’
In some ways Tuesday’s game was symbolic of the season for Bis-Henn/Ross-Al (18-9).
The Blue Devils won just six of their first 14 games, but they will enter next week’s IHSA Class 2A regional tournament at Westville as winners in 12 of their last 13 games.
“Our core group didn’t get any preseason practice. They didn’t get any hitting over the winter and they didn’t get to throw,’’ said Dodd, noting that guys like Tuesday’s winning pitcher Chaz Dubois, Caden Keleminic, who got the save, and Anderson Thomas played big roles in the Blue Devils run to the IHSA Class 2A super-sectional in basketball. “They had one practice and we were playing games.
“We basically relied on their experience at the start of the season.’’
Dubois went the first four innings Tuesday, allowing one run on three hits while striking out 11 and Keleminic closed the contest, allowing 1 run on four hits, while striking out seven.
“Those are going to be the guys we rely on in the postseason starting next week,’’ Dodd said.
While seeing his team striking out 18 times on Tuesday wasn’t a good sign for Holland, he did think it was a good test with the IHSAA Class 2A sectional just a few weeks away.
“They threw two pretty good arms,’’ Holland said. “Those guys are going to have some success throwing in the postseason and that’s the pitching that I want to see because those are the type of arms that we are going to see in our postseason. It’s good preparation.
“It also shows that we are not quite ready for it.’’
Ryder Hannon led the Seeger offensive attack with three hits and an RBI, while Jarrett Smith had two hits and an RBI.
In addition to getting the win on the mound, Chaz Dubois drove in a game-high four RBIs.