Alex Eisen/MDN Minot Vistas infielder Hunter Ruzicka (4) receives the throw down to second base Friday evening against the Dickinson Roughriders at Corbett Field in Minot.

The Minot Vistas made too many mistakes to overcome a 12-10 loss to the Dickinson Roughriders Friday evening at Corbett Field.

The nine-inning, non-counter contest in the statewide standings featured 12 combined errors. The Vistas chalked up seven of them, according to the live stats. The scoreboard in right field wasn’t as generous with nine errors counted.

Miscues, both fielding and throwing, proved to be costly in what turned out to be a close, two-run game when the final out was recorded.

“They got nine extra outs, or three extra innings of hitting,” Minot Vistas head coach Pat Arntson said candidly. “And we only lost by two.”

Starting strong, Minot posted five runs in the first inning.

Jack Plemel drove in the first run and then crossed home plate on a balk. Dickinson lefty starting pitcher Isaac Daley worked through controversy about his foot placement on the rubber, especially on his pick-off move.

With two runners on base, Minot’s Trent Greek made Daley pay as he cranked a two-out home run over the left-field fence. The piercing ping off the aluminum bat confirmed the ball was long gone.

“As soon as I heard the crack, I kind of knew,” Greek said. “I saw a good pitch, and I tried just to get a base hit. And it went out.”

Compounding miscues by the Vistas allowed Dickinson to respond with four runs in the second inning. Troy Berg cleared the bases with a “Little League home run,” which went into the scorekeeping book as a single and a Minot throwing error.

After two innings, the Vistas had already committed five errors.

“We have harped and harped and harped on that every rep we take is to prepare us for the games,” Arntson said. “That hasn’t taken yet because we never ask ourselves to move fast enough at game speed to make plays. So, every time we are asked to make a play, it’s new. We aren’t ready. That just keeps showing up.”

Talon Hebert replaced Minot starting pitcher Derek Nygaard in the fourth inning with the Vistas still leading 5-4.

Both offenses went silent until the sixth inning. Dickinson put up two runs in the top half to take the lead for the first time, but Minot punched back with four runs in the bottom half. Chase Burke, Dylan Vigested and Calvin Watkins secured RBIs in the frame.

Minot went to the seventh up 9-6 with five hits and six errors.

“The errors held us back,” Greek said. “We need to do better in the field.”

In what would have been the final at-bats for Dickinson in a typical seven-inning game, the Roughriders knocked Hebert off the mound with three runs and then took the lead on a two-run single by Berg.

The Vistas’ seventh error of the game via live stats (or ninth error displayed on the scoreboard) increased Dickinson’s lead to 12-9 in the top of the eighth inning.

In the bottom half, Minot eclipsed double-digits in the run column following an RBI sacrifice fly by Watkins. The Vistas left the tying runner on first base.

Dickinson closer Drew Kovash allowed two Vistas to reach base in the ninth before the Roughriders turned to a new pitcher, Berg, to get the final two outs. He did just that with a pair of groundouts.

“We have seen it where we get a four or five spot early, and then we kind of hang out for a while and see if they’re going to fight back,” Arntson said. “It was the same (today). But, I thought it was the first time we have jumped out to a 5-0 lead and we earned it. We have had some cheap four-and five-run leads where they made some errors, walked some guys and we hit a dribble down the third-base line. To get a big three-run home run in the first was a huge momentum swing. But, after that, we didn’t make enough plays.”

Next up, the Vistas host Grand Forks on Monday for a pair of games that will count in the statewide standings. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. in Minot.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.