Shanley Baseball Using Late Game Heroics to Get Number One Seed at State

Deacons won their first EDC title by beating Sheyenne

FARGO, N.D. — Shanley baseball made history over the weekend winning their first EDC title in program history knocking off the top seed Sheyenne. Now, its on to the state tournament  in Mandan where the Deacons get the top spot.

In both the conference tournament and the regular season its all been about staying in games late. In their opening round match-up with Fargo North, they fought back down two runs to win 5-4 then in the championship against the Mustangs were down a run and scored a pair late to clinch it.

Head coach Luke Rustad says the reason is having some many seniors able to respond.

“I wasn’t sure at the beginning of the year how the seniors were going to respond to a little adversity when they had to reach down and have their last at-bat. Get a victory,” Rustad said. “We really found ways to do that. And carry that through by playing solid baseball. Sticking around in tough games and figuring out how to win.”

“We have a lot of competitive guys here on this team and our ultimate goal is obviously a state title but getting in a good position to do that was winning the EDC tournament,” senior pitcher Zach Sandy said. “It just goes to show you with all the players we have and how hard we work, it was meant to be for us. We really have a hard working bunch and beating Sheyenne was big and we hope to keep it going here.”

Deacons open up the tournament  on Thursday with Bismarck Century. First pitch in that one at 11:30 A.M.