After taking hard road through regional, Thompson has a chance to defend state title run
· Yahoo Sports
May 26—GRAND FORKS — The Thompson baseball program is the four-time defending North Dakota Class B state champion.
The Tommies' hopes of defending that title run nearly were over early this postseason. Thompson needed extra innings to beat Larimore during the region tournament, then had to work back through the double-elimination bracket after losing to Hillsboro-Central Valley.
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Yet, the young Thompson squad is still standing as the state tournament approaches this weekend in Jamestown. The No. 3 seed Tommies face Bottineau in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"Lots of fresh faces and inexperience but they showed up when we needed them the most," Thompson coach Nate Soulis said. "We had some struggles early in the year. Through the year, they did a really good job taking ownership and making adjustments. They did a really good job improving on what makes us successful. There were glimpses of it throughout the year, and now, something clicked. Kudos to them for the mental toughness to stick with it. We knew this group was talented but they needed some growing pains to figure it out. They did that and are playing their best baseball right now. Hopefully, we can carry that to Jamestown."
Of the 14 players on Thompson's roster, nine are sophomores or younger.
"At the start of the season, we had some rough patches," freshman catcher Dex Avdem said. "We didn't know where to put guys and had little experience. But as we kept going, we matured in a way and our mental toughness got better. We found a way. We knew what we were capable of and focused on preparation and execution. We kept grinding."
Avdem leads the Tommies with a .438 average. He started a year ago for Thompson in the state championship run as an eighth-grader.
Avdem has more than just last year's experience to add perspective to his freshman season. Last August, Avdem suffered a medical scare during a Legion game and needed CPR and an AED to survive the cardiac arrest.
"I just wanted to not take this year for granted because you know you can lose it," Avdem said. "It's rewarding to win a region championship because it could've been my last in the summer. It was great to win a region championship with the boys."
Avdem has been a workhorse behind the plate this year. At the rain-altered regional tournament, Avdem caught 28 innings in a span of 28 hours, his coach said.
"He's our leader," Soulis said.
Thompson lost five starters off last year's team and struggled in the field early this year.
"That got cleaned up in the (region) tournament, and we made the routine plays consistently," Soulis said. "We've had seven losses and half of them we gave an opponent extra chances."
Thompson's pitching staff runs deep, with six different players throwing in the region tournament. Senior Jeromy Tyce has been the Tommies' go-to pitcher this year.
"In those do-or-die games, he gives us the best chance to win," Soulis said.