Sports Editor

Forget about the race for the top spot in the West Region, the Coyote baseball club was just looking to break out of a four-game skid.

After dropping the opener of a conference doubleheader 7-0 to Bismarck at Aafedt Stadium Thursday, the Coyotes knew they had to make something happen in the nightcap.

Trevor Sorenson was solid on the mound and Shawn Egge went 4-for-4 at the plate to help Williston break out of the slump with a 5-4 win and a split with the Demons.

“We needed to win, we had to get off the loss column. Bismarck is a solid club and we had to battle,” said Coyotes coach Brad Westphal. Williston now sits at 13-3 in the West and 15-6 overall, leaving them tied with Minot for the top spot, with Bismarck one game back.

The Coyotes will next host Dickinson on Tuesday and then Bismarck Century Thursday.

Williston 5, Minot 4

Sorenson had to keep his composure on the hill as the Coyote defense gave up three unearned runs, and he allowed some base runners with six walks and a hit batsmen.

“Sorenson really battled today, he would get down and work his way out of it, he didn't get frustrated,” said Westphal.

Sorenson could have been pulling his hair out in the bottom of the seventh when Bismarck, the home team for the nightcap, had pulled within a run of the Coyotes when Jake Hruby drew a bases loaded walk with two outs.

Instead of panicking, Sorenson refocused and got Eric Christenson to strike out to collect the win.

Meanwhile Egge was helping put pressure on the Demons with his bat. He led off the game with a single, moved to second on an error, third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice by Nathan Wingerter.

“I just needed to start hitting the ball more and getting on base,” said the Coyotes' lead-off hitter. “I concentrated on keeping my shoulder in more and not pulling the ball as much.”

However, the Coyotes left the bases loaded in the first.

Bismarck did the same leaving the game tied at 1-all after one inning.

In the third, Brian Qvale led off with a double to right field, his second of the game, and Jeff Skadeand and Sorenson added back-to-back hits to load the bases. A two-run error brought in Qvale and Skadeland, and Sorenson scored on a hit up the middle by Egge. James Laqua also looked to score on the play, but was tagged at home for the third out, leaving Williston with a 4-1 edge.

Bismarck got one run back in the bottom of the inning, and added a run in the fourth, with both runs scoring on Williston errors to trim the lead to 4-3.

Williston looked for a little insurance and got it in the fifth when Skadeland led off with a walk and when he got caught off third base charged into home. The throw was low and his slide and the ball reached home at the same time, kicking the ball loose for a safe call and a 5-3 lead.

It proved to be the winning run as Sorenson ran into a little trouble in the seventh before closing it out.

“We talked about getting after them early and scoring more. It was really important to win that won, it wouldn't have been good to lose that last one,” said Egge.

Egge reached base five times, while scoring a run and adding an RBI. Qvale was 2-3 with two doubles, while Skadeland was 1-2 with two runs. Jordan Braun also went 1-2.

Bismarck's Darron Olson was 2-4.

Williston 103 010 0 - 5 10 3

Minot 101 100 1 - 4 6 3

Trevor Sorenson and Doug Richter. Tyler Johnson, Alex Deyle (5) and Jon Hausauer, Johnson (5). WP - Sorenson, LP - Johnson. 2B - Williston, Brian Qvale 2.

Bismarck 7, Williston 0

A pitcher's duel turned one-sided as the Demons grabbed the momentum with a one-run fifth.

Neither pitcher gave much room to work through the first four innings, but the Demons used some small ball to break the tension.

Darron Olson drew a lead-off walk and an error put him on second base. Hruby bunted him to third and then Jared Hochhalter's bunt on the suicide squeeze brought in Olson.

The Demons then got to Williston starter Brian Qvale in the sixth to score four runs on three hits and two Williston errors for a 5-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Williston bats didn't put much pressure on the visitors as Jon Hausauer allowed just three hits in the shutout.

“We got shut down, we never bunched together any hits, we never did what we were supposed to, we made mistakes and we were null and void at the plate,” said Westphal.

Bismarck added two more runs in the seventh as the Coyotes continued to throw the ball around, finishing with four errors.

Hausauer (5-0) remained unbeaten with the win as he only struck out three, but coaxed a number of Coyote hitters into harmless fly balls.

Qvale (4-1) was handed his first loss of the season.

It was pretty clear the game belonged to Bismarck when Brett Colebank led off the bottom of the seventh with a double for Williston, but with one out, Skadeland's line drive went right to the shortstop, who threw to second to double up Colebank to end the game.

Doug Richter was 1-2 for the Coyotes at the plate.

For Bismarck, Tyler Johnson was 2-4 with 2 RBI, while Hausauer scored twice.

Bismarck 000 014 2 - 7 8 1

Williston 000 000 0 - 0 3 4

Jon Hausauer and Tyler Johnson. Brian Qvale and Devin Kvernum, Doug Richter (7). WP - Hausauer, LP - Qvale. 2B - Bismarck, Hausauer. Williston, Brett Colebank.