Photo by Jake McNeill: Dawson-Boyd third baseman Tygan Long makes a throw across the infield during the first inning of a baseball game against the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights in Ruthton on Tuesday. The Blackjacks defeated the Knights 6-4.

RUTHTON — The Dawson-Boyd baseball team overcame an early deficit against the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights on Tuesday night with a five-run third inning. The Blackjacks rode that momentum to a 6-4 victory to hand the Knights their first loss of the season.

Trailing 3-0, Dawson-Boyd shifted the trajectory when they exploded for five runs in the third inning.

Collin Olson started the inning with a walk and a Beau Johnson bunt and a Blake Thompson single loaded the bases with no outs. Kameron Sather broke the tension with a fly-ball single to right field to drive in Olson and Johnson.

Nathan Hansen and Grayson Olson each drew a walk to force in Thompson for the tying run, prompting a pitching change. Still, Tygan Long got hit by a pitch on the next at-bat to give the Blackjacks the lead and Hansen scored on a passed ball to make it 5-3.

RTR head coach Danny Moffitt gave credit to the Knights for their big inning, saying that RTR struggled giving up walks early and Dawson-Boyd capitalized with a great bunt and some timely hits.

After allowing the first two inherited runners to score, Eli Determan got three consecutive outs to minimize the damage for the Knights.

Johnson and Hansen each reached base in the first inning to put runners on the corners for the Blackjacks, but RTR starting pitcher Kolby Louwagie got out of the inning unscathed. In the bottom of the frame, the Knights made the Blackjacks pay.

Blake Christianson started the Knights’ first-inning rally with a leadoff triple to deep center field. Tyler Wichmann walked to put runners on the corners and a passed ball allowed Christianson to score the game’s first run.

Wichmann was caught stealing in the same at-bat but Chase Christianson singled to keep a runner on first. Drew Chandler followed Christianson’s single with an RBI double and, after another Knights flyout, Isaac Dagel doubled to score Chandler to give RTR a 3-0 lead.

“I think the best thing that happened in the first inning when we went down 0-3 is that we switched pitchers to go into the second inning,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Daren Swenson said. “I talked to [Thompson] and he’s like, ‘Yep, let’s do it,’ so we put in [Long] and that picked everyone up. We moved on to the next pitch… we had a couple of plays in the game that we needed to shake off and we moved onto the next one.”

Blake Thompson started on the mound for the Blackjacks but was relieved by Long to start the second inning. Long threw four innings of relief in the Blackjacks’ last game, a 9-3 win over Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda, and held the Coyotes to four hits and one run. He looked strong again on Tuesday, holding RTR to two hits, three walks and a run over six innings of relief. He also struck out two batters while picking up the win.

Swenson attributed Long’s successful relief outing to his ability to control the ball and remain calm out there.

“These guys are a good group of kids that are calm. They don’t get worked up. Yeah, they get worked up and excited for the game, but they don’t get behind on themselves and they don’t get down on themselves,” Swenson said.

Despite getting the early hook on the mound, Thompson still found a way to leave his mark on the win. He went 3 of 3 at the plate with a walk for the Blackjacks while crossing the plate for a run as well.

“[Thompson is] the only senior on the team, good leadership there. I just said that to him as well,” Swenson said. “He kept his head up and that’s what we work on.”

The Blackjacks tacked on an extra run in the fourth inning when Sather reached base on a single with one out. He stole second and third before scoring on an RBI single from Hansen, making the score 6-3.

Louwagie was charged with the loss for RTR after allowing five earned runs over two innings. He surrendered three hits and four walks while striking out four batters.

While he wasn’t able to pick up the win, Determan did his share during his five-inning relief appearance. He held the Blackjacks to two hits and a pair of walks while allowing one run. He also struck out three batters.

“I thought defensively we did really well. I think we maybe had one error and a couple of passed balls but, all in all, their coach did a great pitchers change,” Moffitt said. “We hit [Thompson] good and he knew when he switched it. Our problem was we didn’t adjust to [Long’s] speed and now we know. We’ve been learning little things like that.”

Seth Cowell led off the bottom of the sixth with a pinch-hit triple for the Knights. After a shallow pop out to short, Blake Christianson hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Cowell.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (2-1) will host Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove for its next game on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. while Dawson-Boyd (2-0) will play another road game against Border West at the same time.