Patriots compete in Laurel; fireworks display on day two

The Richland County Patriot baseball team traveled to Laurel for a tournament that began July 2.

In their first game, the Patriots took on the Billings Loboes. A well-played game both pitching and defensively by both teams made for a very competitive matchup. A hard sixth inning for the Patriots ended up hurting the team as they were defeated by a score of 8-6.

The Patriots then turned around and faced the host team in the Laurel Dodgers. The Patriots could not get the bats going against the Dodgers as they were unable to get any runs across home plate.

Another pretty solid defensive effort for the Patriots kept the game fairly close with a final score of 6-0.

“The game against Billings was a really well played game. It was close throughout, and we played very well defensively. Josh Nollmeyer had a real nice game at the plate and in the field,” assistant coach Jesse Nesper said. “We just didn’t score enough runs. We lost a tight game, and than we had to turn around and play Laurel right away.”

The Patriots were determined to put up more runs on the second day than they had in their previous two games. In their first matchup, they faced the Big League All Stars. In an offensive slugfest, the Patriots and the All Stars combined for 30 runs in the seven-inning contest. The Big League All Stars came out on top of the Patriots by a score of 16-14.

Just like the day before, the Patriots were forced to turn right around and play another game. The Patriots would not get shutout this time though, as they showed just as much firepower as they did in the previous game.

The Patriots faced a high powered Livingston squad as the two teams combined for 31 runs. The Patriots came out on the bottom end of the 17-14 affair.

“The biggest highlight of the day for us was probably when Rick Haraldson hit two home runs against Livingston as they were his first two hits in the tournament,” Nesper said.

The Patriots begin a three-game home stretch beginning next week. They will host Lewistown on Monday, Glendive on Tuesday and Wolf Point July 19. The stretch will mark the last time the Patriots play at Moose Park until they host the district tournament begining July 24.

sports@sidneyherald.com