Monday night’s Zap vs. Bison game was an anomaly compared to the last 11 games Oahe had played. Over those games, the Zap picked up 10 wins and scored 9 or more runs in each. Last night was different. They capped off a long stretch of games to close out the month of June and open up the final month of the regular season, and were playing the best baseball of anyone in the ILB. The Zap hit a Bison wall Monday, however, being held to just two runs on four hits and falling 3-2 handing them their first loss in July.
The Bison got a two-run homerun from Vinny Nielsen in the first inning making it 2-0, a score that would stay that way until the sixth. The Zap couldn’t get to starter Adam Whyte who dealt 5.0 innings of one-hit baseball. When Bison Baseball went to reliever Drew Kloster, the Zap found a little rhythm picking up two runs on a Connor Goldberg RBI single.
It would stay tied until the eighth inning until the Bison manufactured a run on a Remington Hart single that would move him to third after a throwing error in an attempt to cut him down at second base. Brady Glenn stranded Hart that frame, but Bison were six outs away from picking up a major upset.
In the ninth, the Zap would load the bases and pose a walk-off threat, but a few pop-ups would end the ballgame and hand the Bison the 3-2 win.
The Zap hit their final off-stretch of the season, three days off before a marathon sprint of 16 games to the finish line of the regular season. Head coach Jamy Haberger wants this trio of off-days and a unpalatable loss to trigger a strong mental push to the coveted Championship Series. “We always talk about the guys finding their ‘Why?’, right?” said Haberger, “What are you here for? Is it family? Is it to get better as a player? You’re not just here for no reason, we have to find our ‘Why?’ if we want to really make this final run special.”
The Zap had a similar final few weeks to their 2025 summer, flipping the record on their regular season and finishing up in the league championship. Haberger wants to see that same outcome again this year.
The Zap will host Bison Baseball again on Friday night at 6:05 PM CT before heading to Mitchell. After the unique home, away, home three-game series, the Zap will play their biggest series of the year with Spearfish July 13-15.
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