By Owen Patterson

MINOT, ND – It was an electric night at Corbett Field that ended with Minot Hot Tots sending the home fans happy with a walk-off win in extra innings, 7-6 over the St. Cloud Rox.

Minot’s offense was blazing hot from the beginning, putting up runs in each of their first three innings at the plate. St. Cloud would wait to get their scoring started until the top of the third when Jackson Hauge hit his second home run of the year, a two-run shot to cut the deficit in half. The Rox continued to close in with an additional two runs in the fourth innings and one in the fifth to tie the score at five after five complete.

St. Cloud got a marvelous outing from long reliever Nathan Anderson who was brought out of the bullpen in the early stages of the game following a 1.1 inning outing by starter Max Stanley. Anderson would calm the once raging Hot Tots bats, allowing two runs, none earned, on five Minot hits over 3.2 innings.

Following an RBI single by Hunter Miller in the bottom of the fifth, Minot had the lead again at 6-5. Relief pitching for both sides kept things scoreless until the top of the ninth when St. Cloud would once again tie the game on a Kade Lewis groundout, scoring Sawyer Smith from third. Minot did find the walk-off in the ninth, but in the tenth…

With the bases loaded after two intentional walks and one out, Wyatt Reginato was at the plate facing St. Cloud’s right-handed reliever Phil Brennaman. Reginato worked a walk and the celebration began. The Hot Tots picked up their first win of the new season in walk-off fashion.

Minot first baseman Tristan Morris went 3-for-3 at the plate and reached base all six times he came up to bat. The Hot Tots will begin a six-game series with rival Bismarck tomorrow, returning home on Sunday and Monday for games three and four of the Dakota Dust-Up Rivalry Series.