Squirrels open regional with win

The Charleston Fighting Squirrels experienced little difficulty securing a victory in its first game at the Midwest Plains Regional in Dickinson, North Dakota, Thursday afternoon.

Charleston scored at least one run in each of the first four innings as it cruised past Holyoke, Colo., 11-1 in six innings at Astoria Field at Southside Ballpark.

Matt Ulrich earned a complete-game victory for Charleston. He allowed one run and two hits in six innings pitched. Fourty-eight of the 79 pitches Ulrich threw were strikes.

"I thought we played tremendous," Charleston coach Michael Minner said. "Matt Ulrich was phenomenal on the mound to give up just two hits against a good-hitting baseball team. They swung the bats well, and he just kept them in check. Our defense made two diving plays and didn't make an error. We took the pressure off by getting five runs in the first inning and hit the ball well all day. It was just a great opening-day win for us."

The Fighting Squirrels tallied five of its 11 hits in the top of the first inning as it jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. Tim Fox drove home Charleston's first run with an RBI double after Brad Potts drew a leadoff walk. Notre Dame graduate Luke Haines followed with an RBI single, Scott City graduate Ryan Fortner added an RBI triple, Jason Mattison tallied an RBI single and another run scored from third base when Mattison was thrown out attempting to steal second.

Haines got his second hit of the day on an RBI double to left field in the top of the second inning to pad Charleston's lead to 6-1.

Charleston scored an unearned run in the top of the third inning, and Mattison collected his second RBI in the top of the fourth inning when he drove home a runner from third base on a fielder's choice.

Holyoke scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Gunner Kroeger drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a walk, took third on a stolen base and later scored by taking home as catcher Cody Payne threw out a runner attempting to steal second base.

Fortner collected his second RBI with a triple in the top of the sixth inning. Blake Wolferding followed Fortner's second triple of the game with an RBI single to left. Hampton added a sacrifice fly later in the frame to increase Charleston's lead to 11-1.

Six hitters had at least one RBI for Charleston.

Fortner finished 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI triples. Haines went 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

"We've got guys who are going to rise to the occassion," Minner said. "They looked really comfortable in the box. One of the things we talked about was arriving early so we would have our legs under us. There was no sign of fatigue today. We had great at-bats all day and had big hits with two strikes, which we haven't been doing. We probably played one of our better games of the year today, which is a great sign of where this baseball team is at this point."

Charleston is competing in a four-team pool with Holyoke, Dickinson and Eden Prairie Black, Minn. The other four-team pool features Oskaloosa, Iowa; Lyons, Kan.; Eden Prairie Red, Minn. and Fargo, N.D.

Charleston, now 1-0 in Pool B, is slated to play Eden Prairie Black on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and host Dickinson on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

The top two finishers in each pool advance to a single-elimination four-team championship bracket. The semifinals of bracket play are at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The Midwest Plains Regional championship is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

"It's always good to start out with a win," Minner said. "Friday we will throw Cody Payne. We are playing a tough team that we beat 3-2 in nine or 10 innings last year in the regional. If we can win Friday we will put ourselves in a really good position. Cody Payne has been good for us. Hopefully, we will have another good day offensively and put ourselves in a prime position to advance to Sunday."

Payne, who graduated from Chaffee High School in May, was on the mound for the Fighting Squirrels' state championship victory last week.

Payne threw a one-hitter in Charleston's state-championship victory in the winner-take-all game against Boonville.

Charleston 511 103 -- 11 11 0

Holyoke 000 100 -- 1 2 5

WP -- Matt Ulrich. LP -- Chance Dunker. 3B -- Ryan Fortner 2 (C). 2B -- Tim Fox (C), Luke Haines 2 (C). Multiple hits -- Charleston: Haines 3-4, Fortner 2-3, Blake Wolferding 2-2.