DICKINSON, ND – The Badlands Big Sticks (1-1) survived a hot start by the Minot Hot Tots (1-1) and came storming back in the last two frames, scoring 2 runs in the 8th and 5 runs in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, then outlasting Minot in 11 innings for a crazy 13-12 victory to split the first series of the 2026 Battle of the Badlands.

 

Minot got off to a fast start, grabbing 5 runs off Badlands starter Jacob Courtney (Bushnell), who went 2.1 IP and surrendered 4 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. Badlands grabbed a run in the top of the 3rd after Davis Goodwin (Cal State – Bakersfield) singled to plate Cooper Rasmussen (FIU).

 

The two squads split the 4th inning, scoring one run a piece. After a leadoff triple from Braylon Mitchell (Dayton), Nathan Nance (NW FL State JC) drove him home with a single. In the bottom half, the Hot Tots countered with their second home run of the night courtesy of Chris Daniels, putting the scoreline at 6-2.

 

Minot grabbed another run in the 6th with Micah McCoy singling to bring home Daniels, putting them firmly in the driver’s seat with a 7-2 lead at the end of the 6th. But the lead was anything but safe.

 

Badlands started the top of the 8th with a walk by Goodwin who later scored on a sac fly by Nance, his 2nd RBI of the night. Jackson Ellison (Butler CC) got on base with a double, and later scored after a wild pitch, putting the scoreline at 7-4.

 

The 9th inning started with two walks from Chayton Fischer (UTRGV) and Goodwin with one out. Mitchell came up with two outs and two on base and muscled a single through the middle to score one and put Goodwin at 3rd.

 

Nance then came up and turned the game on its head by driving the first pitch of his at-bat into left field and depositing it over the fence for a 3-run home run to give the Big Sticks the lead 8-7. Badlands picked up another insurance run when Rhett Winchester (Barton CC) singled to score the 5th run of the inning and give the Big Sticks a 9-7 lead going into the bottom half.

 

Minot didn’t go quietly, rallying in the 9th to score one run on a throwing error and putting a man on third with 0 outs in the frame. Seth Broadwell (Keiser University) struck out Ryan Brucker for the first out, but TJ Stottlemyre managed a sac fly to bring home the tying run, sending the game to extra innings.

 

Starting with Jordan Kuhnau (Hutchinson CC) on second in the 10th, Goodwin hit a double with one out to score Kuhnau and give the Big Sticks the lead. Goodwin then stole third and scored on a sac fly by Ellison, giving Badlands a 2-run cushion going into the bottom half.

 

In the bottom half of the 10th, Minot scored on a ground-rule double by Tyler Arnold to put the score within one. Later in the frame, Nathan Belle came up and hit an opposite-field single to plate the 2nd run to tie the game at 11-11. Christian Gross (Central Arizona College) managed to strike out the following two hitters to send the game into the 11th.

 

The 11th started with the ghost runner Nance being caught stealing on the first pitch of the frame. Griffin Lyczkowski (Navarro College) recovered the inning with a double to replace Nance almost immediately.

 

Rasmussen then came up and hit a single through the middle that turned into a triple due to a fielding error by the center fielder, plating Lyczkowski in the process. Rasmussen then scored just a few pitches later when pitcher Gavin Pacheco threw a wild pitch, putting the scoreline at 13-11 heading into the bottom of the 11th.

 

Gross came back out in the bottom half of the frame and got the first batter of the inning to groundout. Stottlemyre then came up and grounded a single up the middle, scoring the ghost runner and scoring the 25th run of the game.

 

Gross recovered, getting Kellan Burke to strike out swinging for the second out. Daniels strided to the plate as the last chance for Minot, but Gross blew a fastball by him for a strikeout to end the game at 13-12 for the Big Sticks.

 

This 25-run contest is tied for the second-highest scoring game between the two squads, drawing even with the 15-10 Big Sticks win in July 2025 and falling short of the 15-13 win for Minot in July 2024.

 

The Big Sticks come back to Dickinson for their first home series of the season, with contests slated for Wednesday and Thursday against the St. Cloud Rox. Both games are slated to begin at 6:35 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on FloSports.