College baseball: Ridgewater Warriors are still alive at regional

ST. CLOUD — The Ridgewater baseball team went 1-1 on the first day of the Region XIII tournament at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex.

The seventh-seeded Warriors (14-18) beat No. 10 North Dakota State College of Science-Wahpeton 13-1 in five innings. Then, Ridgewater was beaten by second-seeded Central Lakes College, 6-5. CLC had a first-round bye.

Ridgewater plays the winner of Riverland and NDSCS at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MAC’s Joe Faber Field in the double-elimination tournament.

It’s the Warriors’ first regional appearance since 2016.

Nolan Spence, a freshman from Zimmerman, had a huge day for Ridgewater.

In Game 1, Ridgewater opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Spence had an RBI single. The Warriors scored another run on an error.

Spence then hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third to put Ridgewater up 3-0.

The Warriors scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth, getting back-to-back home runs from Jadrien Keavy and Josh Robb.

Bennett Knapper, a Yellow Medicine East grad, hit a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning to help the Warriors advance in the winners’ bracket.

Sam Lenarz got the complete-game victory on the mound for Ridgewater. He’s a freshman from Benson.

In Game 2, Ridgewater scored twice in the top of the first. Seth Resnick slugged an RBI double and Spence had an RBI single.

Central Lakes built a 6-2 lead through five innings before Spence hit a three-run homer in the sixth to close the gap to 6-5 for Ridgewater.

NDSCS             000   10-1   na   na
Ridgewater      201   64-13   na   na

Ridgewater         200   003   0-5   5   1
Central Lakes     022   200   0-6   5   1
Hitting - Ridgewater: Brad Bickmann 1-3 r, Tyler Flis 1-3 r, Seth Resnick 1-3 r-2 rbi 2b, Nolan Spencer 2-3 r rbi-4 hr … Central Lakes: Eli Roberts 1-2 r-2 rbi-2 bb hr, Erubiel Ozuna 1-3, Gunnar Wicklund 0-3 r, Derin Gaudette 1-3 r rbi, Noah Cekalla 1-3 rbi, Kyle Baker 0-2 r bb, Adam Braun 1-3 rbi-2 2b, Rylee Rauch 1-3 r
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) - Ridgewater: Reece Schwirtz (L) 6-6-6-5-2-10 … Central Lakes: Gaudette (W) 7-5-5-2-0-10