Fighting Squirrels beat Dickinson 9-0, advance to Sunday's regional semifinals

DICKINSON, N.D. - The Charleston Fighting Squirrels locked up the No. 1 seed in Pool B at the Midwest Plains Regional Saturday night with a 9-0 victory against host Dickinson, North Dakota .

Charleston, which beat Holyoke, Colorado 11-1 Thursday and Eden Prairie Black, Minnesota 3-1 Friday, finishes 3-0 in Pool B.

Eden Prairie, which beat Holyoke 19-3 Saturday, finishes second in Pool B with a record of 2-1. Dickinson (1-2) finishes third in Pool B and Holyoke (0-3) places fourth.

Fargo, North Dakota and Oskaloosa, Iowa both went 2-1 in Pool A. Lyons, Kansas and Eden Prairie Red, Minnesota both went 1-2.

Fargo beat Lyons 8-7 in an elimination game Saturday and Oskaloosa beat Eden Prairie Red 8-4 in an elimination game Saturday.

Fargo finishes first in Pool A and Oskaloosa finishes second because Fargo beat Oskaloosa 10-6 in a head-to-head meeting Friday.

The top two finishers in each four-team pool advance to Sunday's four-team bracket-play portion of the tournament.

The first semifinal between Fargo and Eden Prairie Black begins Sunday at 1 p.m. Charleston takes on Oskaloosa in the second semifinal at approximately 3:30 p.m. The winners of the semifinals square off in the Midwest Plains Regional championship Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

The Fighting Squirrels collected three triples and a double against the Dickinson pitching staff Saturday.

Charleston tallied its first run in the top of the first inning when Luke Haines grounded into a double play with runners at first and third with nobody out. Brad Potts drew a leadoff single in the frame and advanced to third base when No. 2 hitter Tim Fox reached on an infield error.

The Fighting Squirrels tallied three runs in the top of the second inning. Cody Payne and Potts had RBI singles in the frame and Austin Aldridge collected an RBI triple.

Blake Wolferding and Colton Hampton had back-to-back RBI triples in the third. Aldridge calculated his second RBI of the game later in the frame when he drove home Hampton from third base on a fielder's choice. Another run scored in the inning on a Dickinson error.

Potts drove home Charleston's final run with an RBI single in top of the seventh. He finished 3 for 4.

Aldridge earned a complete-game victory for Charleston. He allowed three hits, walked three and struck out eight in seven innings pitched. He threw 95 pitches.

The winner of the Midwest Plains Regional advances to the World Series.

Charleston 9, Dickinson 0

CHRL 134 000 1 - 9 12

DCKN 000 000 0 - 0 3

WP - Austin Aldridge. LP - Cameron Jorda. 3B - Aldridge (CH), Colton Hampton (CH), Blake Wolferding (CH), 2B - Ryan Fortner (CH).

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FINAL POOL A STANDINGS

1. Fargo (2-1) [First Place Pool A]

2. Oskaloosa (2-1) [Second Place Pool A]

3. Lyons (1-2) [ELIMINATED]

4. Eden Prairie Red (1-2) [ELIMINATED]

FINAL POOL B STANDINGS

1. Charleston (3-0) [First Place Pool B]

2. Eden Prairie Black (2-1) [Second Place Pool B]

3. Dickinson (1-2) [ELIMINATED]

4. Holyoke (0-3) [ELIMINATED]

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TOURNAMENT RESULTS / SCHEDULE

Pool A: Oskaloosa, Iowa; Lyons, Kansas; Eden Prairie Red, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota

Pool B: Holyoke, Colorado; Eden Prairie Black, Minnesota; Charleston, Missouri; Dickinson, North Dakota

THURSDAY, JULY 24

Oskaloosa 7, Lyons 3

Charleston 11, Holyoke 1 (6 Innings)

Eden Prairie Red 4, Fargo 3 (9 Innings)

Eden Prairie Black 10, Dickinson 9

FRIDAY, JULY 25

Lyons 5, Eden Prairie Red 1

Charleston 3, Eden Prairie Black 1

Fargo 10, Oskaloosa 6 (8 Innings)

Dickinson 12, Holyoke 3

SATURDAY, JULY 26

Oskaloosa 8, Eden Prairie Red 4

Eden Prairie Black 19, Holyoke 3 (5 Innings)

Fargo 8, Lyons 7

Charleston 9, Dickinson 0

SUNDAY, JULY 27 (BRACKET PLAY)

Game 1: No. 2 Pool B - Eden Prairie Black vs. No. 1 Pool A - Fargo, 1 p.m.

Game 2: No. 1 Pool B - Charleston vs. No. 2 Pool A - Oskaloosa, 3:30 p.m.

Game 3 (championship): WInner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8:30 p.m.