Oakes, ND (NewsDakota.com) – The Oakes Tornados began their season with a 6-5 win over the Sargent County Bulldogs playing their first game as a program on a rare but gorgeous March evening.
The game started with sunny skies and warm temps as both teams took to Cummings Field to begin their first season separated from each other after being a co-op for many years. Zade Heier got the nod for Oakes as he pitched 3 solid innings striking out a career high 9 batters and not allowing a single hit and only allowing 1 unearned run. Harry Neustel got the nod for the Bulldogs and he pitched 4 solid innings of work striking out 7.
The Tornados got the scoring started in the bottom of the 2nd as Jaxson Gebhardt and Noah Paradis scored on an E7 and Landon Titus scored on an E4 to make it 3-0 early. Sargent County wouldn’t respond till the 4th inning when Neustel would get aboard via a walk, steal 2nd base, get sent to 3rd on a wild pitch, and come home on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Heier would struggle to throw strikes for the rest of the inning and come out of the game in favor of Joseph Dobitz who’d get the final 2 outs to end the inning.
Oakes responded right away in the bottom half of that inning with a 2 out rally as Heier singled himself aboard and come home on a Nathan Schmitz single to make it 4-1. Dobitz would then come home on an E2 to make it 5-1. Trey Miles would then get ahold of a ball and send it to deep center for a double to make it 6-1. Neustel would then be pulled in favor of Eli Hanson who’d finish the game not allowing another run and only allowing 2 baserunners.
Sargent County would respond with 2 more runs the 5th inning as a base running mishap by Neustel during a steal attempt distracted Dobitz enough to bring home Anthony Ferderer making it 6-2. Neustel would then score on a Braxton Erickson-Wyckoff double making it 6-3 through 5 innings of a play. They would score again in the 6th as Connor Olson would score on a Ferderer single to make it 6-4 but Ferderer would get thrown out trying to advance to 2nd base on the throw home ending the top of the 6th. Gebhardt would pitch for the Tornadoes in the 7th inning in a save situation and would quickly get the first 2 outs. Wyckoff would then get aboard with a single followed by Hanson’s bloop single to right sending Wyckoff to 3rd. Carson Deyle would then ground to short where it’d be booted allowing the run to score making it 6-5. Olson wouldn’t be able keep up the momentum as he’d ground out to Gebhardt to end the ball game.
The Bank North Player of the Game was Zade Heier who got his first career win throwing 3.1 IP, 0 H, 5 BB, 9 K (Career High), 1 R, and 0 ER and hit 1/2 scoring once, 1 BB, and 1 HBP.
Next up is the Enderlin Eagles scheduled for Thursday April 2nd at Cumming’s Field. The game is expected to be ppd due to weather. Keep tuned to KDDR the Tornado for all Tornado Baseball news.
Total Run Time – 2:12
| Sargent County Bulldogs at Oakes Tornados | ||||||||||||
| Mar 30, 2026 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Sargent County (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | ||
| Oakes (1-0) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | x | 6 | 7 | 1 | ||
| W: Zade Heier L: Harry Neustel S: Jaxson Gebhardt | ||||||||||||
| Scoring Summary | ||||
| SCORING DETAILS | SC | OAK | ||
| OAK | 2nd | Titus single to left, E7, Gebhardt, Paradis score | 0 | 2 |
| OAK | 2nd | Dobitz reaches on E4, Titus scores | 0 | 3 |
| SC | 4th | Neustel scores on PB | 1 | 3 |
| OAK | 4th | Schmitz singles, Heier scores; E2, Dobitz scores | 1 | 5 |
| OAK | 4th | Miles doubles, Schmitz scores | 1 | 6 |
| SC | 5th | Ferderer steals home | 2 | 6 |
| SC | 5th | Wyckoff doubles, Neustel scores | 3 | 6 |
| SC | 6th | Ferderer singles, Olson scores | 4 | 6 |
| SC | 7th | Deyle reaches on E6, Wyckoff scores | 5 | 6 |
| Sargent County Bulldogs | ||||||||
| HITTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | HR | AVG |
| Tristen Peterson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Anthony Ferderer | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Harry Neustel | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cole Fyre | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Braxton Erickson-Wyckoff | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Elijah Hanson | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Carson Deyle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Connor Olson | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Brody Mahrer | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 27 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 0 | |
| BATTING: 2B: Wyckoff HBP: Wyckoff LOB: 9 RBI: Ferderer, Wyckoff |
||||||||
| BASERUNNING: SB: Neustel (2), C. Fyre, Ferderer |
||||||||
| FIELDING: E: Ferderer, Deyle, Wyckoff |
||||||||
| Oakes Tornados | ||||||||
| HITTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | HR | AVG |
| Landon Titus | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Zade Heier | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Joseph Dobitz | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nathan Schmitz | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Trey Miles | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Andrew Undem | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jaxson Gebhardt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Noah Paradis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wyatt Arrowwood | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 26 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 0 | |
| BATTING: 2B: Miles HBP: Heier, Paradis LOB: 8 RBI: Schmitz, Miles |
||||||||
| BASERUNNING: SB: Dobitz |
||||||||
| FIELDING: E: Titus |
||||||||
| Sargent County Bulldogs | ||||||||
| PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Harry Neustal | 3.2 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | |
| Elijah Hanson | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 6.0 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 0 | |
| PITCHING: HBP: Neustel (2) |
||||||||
| Oakes Tornados | ||||||||
| PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Zade Heier | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 | |
| Joseph Dobitz | 2.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Jaxson Gebhardt | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TEAM TOTALS | 7.0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 0 | |
| PITCHING: HBP: Heier |
||||||||