For all five days of the Central Plains Regional Tournament, Dubuque County (Iowa) Post 137 head coach Rob Hoerner planted himself at the front of his dugout, seated on a bucket as solidly as a rock.
But as his team, which traveled roughly 800 miles to compete in this tourney, closed in on a championship, the skipper couldn't contain himself.
As pitcher Sam Goodman faced West Fargo shortstop Alex Urlaub with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Hoerner began rocking back and forth with his head facing the turf. Later, he rose from his seat, walked into the dugout and let out a guttural howl before taking a seat again.
Goodman struck out Urlaub as the Post 137 players scurried onto the field. Dubuque County captured its first Regional crown in program history following a 3-2 victory over the Patriots on Sunday, Aug. 10 from the Dakota Community Bank & Trust Ballpark. It is the first time since 1986 that Iowa will be represented in the American Legion World Series.
With a record-breaking temperature of 103 degrees bearing down, Hoerner was showered with a bucket of ice water, thanks to a pair of his players.
"It was shocking. Being that it's about 107-108 degrees out here on this turf and you get that cold water, I didn't know what was going to happen to me for a couple of seconds," Hoerner said. "But I'll take that any day if this is the outcome, it was a great thing. In the back of my mind, I knew it was coming sooner or later, I just didn't know when, so they caught me a little off-guard."
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In order to play in the championship game, Dubuque County defeated West Fargo 11-0 in five innings earlier in the day. Goodman, who started the that game, earned two victories over on the day and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
"This is truly something special. This is a great group of guys, great baseball players, but really just a great group of guys to be around," Goodman said. "This has just been one of the funnest experiences of my life. ... Hopefully, we can keep winning, but this has been something special for sure."
With a trip to Shelby N.C. at stake, the teams were deadlocked at 2-2 entering the bottom of the sixth inning and Dubuque County's top of the order due up.
West Fargo starting pitcher Ryan Bourassa started the frame on the mound, but faced his last batter of the game in the name of shortstop Sam Link, who struck a blistering line drive single for his third hit of the championship game. Jake Faircloth, who started the game at third, took over on the mound in relief
Link was pushed to second base after a T.J. Deardorff sacrifice bunt. After Wil Courtney was intentionally walked and Kyle Lehmann flied out, Jackson Bennett stepped to the plate with the go-ahead run on third.
Bennett lifted a flyball to deep left center field, which bounced on the warning track and over the wall for an RBI ground-rule double, scoring the go-ahead run.
"Their pitchers did a really good job of keeping me off balance today. During the whole tournament, I was pretty much on the ball until today," Bennett said. "My approach was to try and get hits. It just wasn't my day, but I got a pitch I could hit and did what I could to help the team."
West Fargo got on the scoreboard first off of starting pitcher C.J. McDermott in the top of the third when No. 9 hitter Tristen Roehrich doubled with one out. After a Faircloth groundout pushed Roehrich to third, he was driven in on a sharp RBI single by third baseman Brayden Jacobson.
Jacobson promptly stole second before Andrew Enno grounder to short. Link got to the ball, but his long throw pulled the first baseman off of the bag. Jacobson, who kept running with two outs, slid into home safely.
Tasked with overcoming a 2-0 deficit, Dubuque County had two on and one out in the bottom of the frame, but Bourassa fanned Gannon O'Brien and induced a Dylan Gotto fly out to end the inning. Bourassa, who will play collegiate ball at Bismarck State College next season, grinded his way out trouble as Post 137 stranded seven runners through the first three innings.
"It shows his character," West Fargo head coach Jordan Rheault said. "You can say it shows his pitching ability and obviously he has great pitching ability, he's going to college to pitch, but it shows his character to do those type of things in this type of an environment."
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Dubuque County tied it in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Deardorff RBI groundout and a Lehman RBI single.
While McDermott was solid on the hill, allowing just four hits and no walks, Hoerner took no chances and inserted Goodman with two outs and a runner on third in the top of the fifth. Goodman struck out Jacobson to end the threat.
Goodman had a 47-pitch limit after only throwing 58 pitches in the first game. He was afforded that luxury after Dubuque County plated three runs in the first, a run in the second, four in the third and three more in the fifth. With an 8-0 lead after four, Goodman gave way to Lehmann, who finished game one.
"The plan was that if we could get a big enough lead, with the pitch count being low, that I could come back in game two," Goodman said. "So the plan was to try and get out in front, and if we could get away with the lead, they can pull me as soon as possible and save me for whatever I had left in the second game."
West Fargo, making its second appearance in the Regional Tournament, came away with its best finish as runners-up. The Patriots were trying to become the first North Dakota World Series representative since Fargo Post 2 in 1992.
"One of our big things is never having any "what if" moments and we certainly didn't," Rheault said. "Our kids poured their hearts out and I couldn't be prouder of the 17 athletes that we have on the team. I couldn't be prouder of each one, I love all of them. They've done great things for this program, whether are done or have more years, I'm happy for all of them."
Game one
Dubuque County (Iowa) Post 137 11, West Fargo Patriots Post 308 0 (F/5)
DC 314 03 - 11 8 0
WF 000 00 - 0 2 5
DC: Sam Goodman (4.0), Kyle Lehmann (1.0) and Joel Vaske. WF: Lance Oster (1.2), Morgan Kapaun (0.2), Brayden Jacobson (2.0), Ryan Reynolds (0.2) and Dustin Mertz.
W-Goodman. L-Oster. HR-None.
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Highlights: DC: Goodman 4 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 4 K, W; Sam Link 1-1, 2B, 3 BB, 4 R; Lehmann 1-1, 3 BB, RBI, IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, K; Wil Courtney 2-3, HBP, 2 RBI, R. WF: Andrew Enno 1-2; Brady Beyl 1-1; Jacobson 0-2, 2 IP, H, 2 BB, 2 ER, 3 K.
Central Plains Regional Championship Game
Dubuque County (Iowa) Post 137 3, West Fargo Patriots Post 308 2
WF 002 000 0 - 2 4 2
DC 000 201 x - 3 9 0
WF: Ryan Bourassa (5.0+), Jake Faircloth (1.0) and Dustin Mertz. DC: Connor McDermott (4.2), Sam Goodman (2.1) and Joel Vaske
W-Goodman. L-Bourassa. HR-None.
Highlights: WF: Brayden Jacobson 1-3, RBI, R; Andrew Enno 1-2, HBP, RBI; Tristen Roehrich 1-2, 2B, R; Bourassa 5 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 3 ER, 4 K. DC: Goodman 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 3 K, W, Tournament MVP. Link 3-4, 2 R (Scored go-ahead run in the sixth inning); Bennett 1-2, 2B, 2 BB (Drove in go-ahead run in the sixth inning); Kyle Lehmann 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI.
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