Coyotes Baseball Tumbles In Standings After Tough Week

After a rocket-hot start to the season, the Williston Coyote stumbled a bit over the last week, dropping 3 of 4 to some tough competition, and in doing so tumbled down the standings in a congested WDA race.

However, the Coyotes kicked off the week with a strong performance, hosting Minot High for a double header in Williston. In the first game, starting pitcher Ashton Nickoloff tossed a hitless 5.2 innings before handing the ball off to Justin Irgens, who came in to mop up the final 1.1 innings, also in hitless fashion, to hand Nickoloff the win and himself the save with a win by the final of 2-0.

In game two, the Magicians found where they left their bats and made up for lost time at the plate, scoring two in the first, two in the third, three in the fourth, and one more in the sixth. Williston was able to get runners on several times throughout the game, falling by the final score of 8-1. Getting the loss of the hill for the Coyotes was Jaxon Tamez.

On Thursday, another home double-header at Rabon Field, this time against Dickinson High.

In game number one, both teams were able to plate four runs apiece, and then the defensive battle locked in with a scoreless fourth, fifth, and sixth inning. In the top half of the 7th inning, Dickinson's unwavering performance took control for the Coyotes, scoring five more runs and securing the game with a final score of 9-4. Pitcher of record for the Coyotes, and receiving the loss was Chase Collings, who pitched 6.2 innings.

The Coyotes took the lead in the second game against Dickinson, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the second inning. Justin Irgins, who got the start for Williston, was able to hold DHS scoreless until the fifth inning, when DHS cut the lead in half. In the top of the seventh, DHS scored two more runs to take a 3-2 lead. A shut-down bottom half of the 7th from Dickinson would see the Coyotes fall one short by the final of 3-2

The Coyotes entered the week tied for first in the WDA standings but finished up in a tie for fifth with Minot High.

Despite the Coyotes tumbling four spots in the standings, they remain just two games out of first place, with Mandan and Legacy coming up this week.

Current WDA Standings

Team	Conf.	Win %	Overall	PF-PA	Streak
Bismarck Legacy	8-2	0.800	10-4-0	88-29	4W
Dickinson	9-3	0.750	11-5-0	109-58	2W
Jamestown	7-3	0.700	8-4-0	53-42	6W
Bismarck	7-3	0.700	9-5-0	67-38	1L
Williston	6-4	0.600	8-4-0	60-45	2L
Minot	6-4	0.600	8-4-0	65-42	1L
Mandan	7-5	0.583	8-6-1	70-61	2W
Bismarck Century	5-7	0.417	5-7-1	75-85	1W
Watford City	2-8	0.200	7-9-0	24-91	2W
Minot North	1-9	0.100	1-11-0	27-71	8L
Bismarck St. Mary's	0-10	0.000	1-12-0	21-97	10L