Sports Editor

Fans sitting at Aafedt Stadium Tuesday night may have been wondering, "Am I at the right game, isn't this supposed to be Williston versus Minot?"

The uniforms indicated it was indeed the Williston Coyotes against the Minot Magicians, but the action on the field didn't reflect the typical matchup between the two friendly rivals, who's games are usually marked with spirited rallies and just enough chippy banter to give the game a bit of suspense.

Instead, the Coyotes saw a late rally fall short in a 7-5 setback, dropping them to 9-3 in the West, while Minot improved to 10-4. Minot completed the sweep, taking the non-conference game 2-0 behind a five-inning no-hitter from Jordan Rubbelke.

"It's always tough to come to Williston and get a couple of wins and now we're in that 2-3-4 spot (in the West), and if we take care of business the rest of the way, we can get No. 2, which is what we're working toward," said Minot coach Pete Stenberg. The Coyotes seem to be going the other way, dropping their last two West games, and falling to 13-7 overall.

"I don't think we came out ready to play, we didn't have much intensity and you have to come with more intensity than that, especially against a team like Minot," said Williston coach Brad Westphal.

The Coyotes will try to turn it around when they go on the road to face West No. 1 Dickinson Thursday.

Minot 7, Williston 5

Williston appeared to come out fired up in the first inning with back-to-back hits by Shawn Egge and Jordan Braun. Quinn Devlin's ground ball brought in a run and Doug Richter's double put two on with one out. However, Minot's Ethan Sundheim got the next two outs to limit the damage.

Sundheim helped the Coyotes look lifeless at the plate for the next four innings. "Sundheim did a good job of keeping the Williston bats off stride," said Stenberg.

The Magicians, playing without one of their bigger bats in Zac Elgie, who had to sit out a game, used Williston miscues and timely hits to produce runs. "We told the team they'd have to step up and it was good to see the way they responded," said Stenberg.

In the third inning, a pair of walks by Williston starter Alex Hanson hurt him when the Coyotes followed up with a pair of errors, keying a three-run burst and 3-1 lead for Minot.

"The combination of walks and errors have hurt us at times this year," said Westphal.

Minot stretched the lead to 5-1 in the fifth, when Josh Oothoudt singled and Ryan Bollinger doubled to put two on with two outs. However, both scored on another Williston error.

Williston finally showed signs of life again at the plate in the sixth, when Richter drew a one-out walk and Trevor Sorenson singled. James Laqua's sacrifice brought in one run and Jake Axtman singled in another to pull within 5-3.

However, Minot scored two runs in the top of the seventh with hits by Oothoudt and Bollinger. With bases loaded and no outs, Eric Olson came on to pitch for the Coyotes. He struck out the first two batters he faced and then issued a walk to bring in a run, before striking out a third batter.

In the bottom half, the Coyotes got hits from Egge and Devlin, to set up a two-run single by Sorenson, and again get within two. Hanson singled to put two on with two outs, but a ground ball ended the rally.

At the plate for Williston, Egge went 2-for-4 and Sorenson was 2-4 with two RBIs, while Axtman hit 2-3 with an RBI.

Minot was paced by Oothoudt, who went 4-for-4 with two runs, while Ryan Bollinger was 2-4.

Hanson pitched well enough to win for the Coyotes, giving up just six hits compared to 12 for Williston, but the errors proved to be costly.

Minot 003 020 2 - 7 6 1

Williston 100 002 2 - 5 12 3

Ethan Sundheim, Ryne Hornecker (6) and Brett Fiddler. Alex Hanson, Eric Olson (7) and Jake Axtman. W - Sundheim, L - Hanson. HR - none. 2B - Minot, Ryan Bollinger. Williston, Doug Richter, Axtman.

Minot 2, Williston 0

Despite an error, Rubbelke didn't face a batter over the minimum and nearly had the perfect game. Williston's only base runner came with two outs in the second when Alex Hanson reached on an error, but he was thrown out at second before Rubbelke had to pitch to the next batter.

Rubbelke didn't walk anyone and struck out three in the no hitter.

"That's probably the first varsity game that Rubbelke has thrown more than two innings. He's been a great JV pitcher and pitched well with the Metros in the summer, but hadn't had that kind of game at this level until now and he was outstanding," said Stenberg.

Eric Olson was pretty solid for Williston on the hill as well. He gave up one run in the third, with the help of a couple of Williston errors and made his only real mistake in the fourth, when lead-off man Ryan Bollinger jumped on the first pitch to hit a solo homer over the right field fence.

Olson gave up two runs on four hits and walked just one in four innings of work.

Minot 001 10 - 2 4 1

Williston 000 00 - 0 0 2

Jordan Rubbelke and Dane Towery. Eric Olson, Shaun McNary (5) and Doug Richter. W - Rubbelke, L - Olson. HR - Minot, Ryan Bollinger.