Braves set for Fargo North rematch in state quarterfinals (2024)

Offense and defense usually have to play complementary roles for a baseball team to be successful.

Mandan's baseball team has challenged that idea this year, and their offense overcame what was a shaky defense at times in last weekend's West Region to advance the Braves on to the state tournament for the second straight season.

"We've worked all year on coming out of the chutes fast and putting up runs right away and getting teams on their heels," Braves head coach Dewitt Mack said. "That worked well for us in the tournament."

In the Braves' two wins at the Region tournament in Minot, early runs were their lifeblood.

Even down No. 2 hitter Hudsen Sheldon for their quarterfinal game against Century on Thursday while he competed at the state track and field meet, the Braves put up three runs in the top of the first and five before the end of the third and kept their foot on the pedal to earn an 11-6 win over the fourth-seeded Patriots.

Sheldon returned for Mandan's second and third games in the tournament, and after an 0-for-3 day in the loss to the Magicians in which Mandan's entire offense struggled, Sheldon (1-for-2, 2B, 2 HBP, 2 R) and leadoff hitter Tukker Horner (2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI) got the Braves started fast in the state qualifier against Dickinson, playing a role in putting up five more runs in the first two innings to kickstart a 9-6 win.

"Hudsen's such a good athlete that it can be tough to replace what he does, but we work on having other guys fill in that role if he's not there," Mack said. "It worked out well on Thursday and it was a bonus to have him back on Friday and Saturday.

"Tukker has stepped up as our leadoff hitter this year and gotten on base a lot and Hudsen is exciting to watch because he can make things happen."

Mandan got five and six innings, respectively, out of their first two starters, Jamison Nelson and Gage Miller, but had to turn to a bullpen game against Dickinson when starter Mason Oster came out with a sore arm.

"We were relying on Mason to get through four or five innings, but he had some tightness in his arm, so we turned to other pitchers instead of getting him hurt," Mack said. "If (the relievers) struggled, we had another pitcher ready to go. His arm was still tired, so we'll give him a couple easy days and hopefully he'll be ready for the weekend."

It wasn't a perfect collective of outings from Nelson, Tate Olson, Doug Sheldon and Sheldon, with Mandan's defense going into the books with six errors and allowing just two of Dickinson's six runs to be earned, but it got the Braves through to the tournament all the same.

"We needed some runs on Saturday to overcome some of the mishaps we had," Mack said. "We've worked on putting the bat on the ball and scoring runs, and our hitting has come around which has helped."

A familiar foe awaits Mandan in the first round of the state tournament.

Last year's state runners-up, Fargo North, started Mandan off on the wrong foot with a 4-1 loss at state, and Mandan's offense did no better in the loser-out game against West Fargo when they were shut out 2-0.

This year, the Braves hope to start off their state tournament run against the Spartans with a different result, and with their offense being tough to slow down as of late, playing clean defense could make the difference in sending the Braves through to the semifinals and beyond.

"We got the flavor of the state tournament last year and we're hungry this year to have success and go a step further than we did last year," Mack said. "Baseball is a game of errors and overcoming those mistakes and miscues is what we've worked on all year. They'll happen (whether we want them to or not), so hopefully we can minimize them and they won't have a detrimental effect on the game."

Mandan plays in the final quarterfinal on Thursday, with first pitch against the Spartans set, assuming the games ahead remain on time and no weather is involved, for 6:30 p.m.