The Souris Valley Sabre Dogs were in town Wednesday evening to take on the Big Sticks in game two of their three game set.

Manager Billy Tomblin sent Adam Senden on the mound to start this one. He came into the game with a 1-1 record and a 6.75 ERA. He was matched up against Trevor Ernt who started the game 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA.

The Big Sticks struggled from the first pitch of tonight’s game offensively. Ernt held The Sticks to one hit through the first three innings, and only allowed one run through seven innings of work.

The Sabre Dogs offense was consistent throughout the game starting early and ending strong. In the top of the second Dalton Bowling hit an RBI double to knock in the game's first run. A couple batters later Ethan Moore hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Sabre Dogs. Senden then threw a wild pitch to allow another run, and an RBI single off the bat of Allen Grier made it 4-0 early.

The only run of the first half of the game for The Sticks came off the bat of Wyatt Setian when he hit into a double play in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1.

Senden was relieved during the seventh inning by Matt Slowik, he ended the game with 6.1 innings pitched, giving up six runs on ten hits while walking three and striking out one.

In the top of the seventh the Sabre Dogs tacked on some insurance runs thanks to an RBI double from Taylor Justus and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dalton Bowling. By the time the middle of the seventh came around it was 6-1 Souris Valley.

Slowik was relieved in the eighth by Calvin Watkins. In the top of the eighth, the Sabre Dogs didn’t let up. Drew Miller hit into a bases loaded fielder’s choice to knock in a run. Then Allen Grier scored thanks to a fielding error. Taylor Justus hit another RBI single, followed by Dalton Bowling who did the exact same thing. When the Sticks finally got the third out of the inning, it was 10-1 Souris Valley.

Although the Big Sticks showed some late life offensively, it was too little too late. First baseman Angel De La Cruz hit a 2-run bomb to make it 10-3 in the eighth. In the ninth the Big Sticks had the bases loaded with one out but could not convert a run to make it close.

The Big Sticks ended with 3 runs on 7 hits with 1 error, and the Sabre Dogs scored 10 runs on 14 hits with no errors. The Sticks fall to 3-2 on the first half to go along with their 20-15 overall record, and the Sabre Dogs move 3-3, and are 25-12 on the season.

Notable Performances:

Angel De La Cruz: 1-4, HR, R, 2RBI, BB (Player of the game)

Matt Olive: 2-4, R

Calvin Watkins: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 K

Be sure to catch the Big Sticks on Thursday evening as they travel to Minot to take on the Sabre Dogs in the rubber match with first pitch set for 6:05 PM MDT.