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Jul. 24—GRAND FORKS — Last summer, Ryne Richau played his first season at the American Legion 19U level.
Grand Forks Royals head coach Nick Chine has heaped more onto Richau's plate in the batter's box and on the mound this year.
Richau, who will be a senior at Grand Forks Red River this fall, has taken those increased responsibilities in stride. He enters next week's North Dakota Class AA state tournament as one of the Royals' key players.
"More roles are put upon you because the people who have previously done it have left the program," Chine said. "He's been given more (roles) and taken advantage of the opportunity he's been given."
Richau has excelled as Grand Forks' cleanup hitter. He's batting a team-high .375 and leads the Royals with six home runs.
Richau has at least one hit in six of his last seven games.
"This year, I've focused more on just hitting line drives instead of trying to go for it all," Richau said. "Just putting the ball in play, and over time, the rest will take care of itself."
Grand Forks' pitching rotation has also seen a boost with Richau's presence. He has appeared in six games, including four starts. Though Richau's record currently sits at 1-3, he has a 3.27 ERA through 30 innings.
Only Alex Seaver has a lower ERA among Royals pitchers with more than seven innings, posting a 2.64 mark.
"(Richau) hasn't thrown a lot for us, whether it be high school or in the summer, up until this year," Chine said. "He's been one of our guys who's eaten up a lot of innings and thrown pretty well."
Richau also moved up to varsity baseball last season. Between the varsity reps during the spring and playing a summer of 19U ball, he believes the experience has been key to his development.
"Last year was obviously a big difference, going from JV baseball to varsity baseball," Richau said. "Just like anything you do, the more you do it, the more you get used to it. Going into this year, I expected woes to come a little bit more than I did last year, so that makes it a little bit easier. ... I just trust the guys around me a little bit more than I did last season, just getting to know them on and off the field a little bit better."
Richau's second go-around at the American Legion state tournament will begin Tuesday at Jack Williams Stadium in Fargo.
Sixth-seeded Grand Forks will open against third-seeded Mandan.
"It's the best time of year to play baseball," Richau said. "If we come in and play our A game every single day, we know that we're going to have a chance to beat the best of the best teams."
For the Royals to make any sort of run, they'll have to return to form defensively. Grand Forks will enter the state tournament on a three-game losing streak featuring 14 total errors.
"When you've got to beat the opponent and try to overcome your own mistakes, it becomes really challenging," Chine said. "When you're behind on the scoreboard, it limits what you can do offensively and the aggressiveness that you could play with, and the chances you can take. So we were behind consistently, and a lot of that was because we weren't making routine plays defensively."
Prior to that three-game stretch, though, the Royals were playing some of their best baseball of the summer. The Royals won six straight with sweeps of Warroad, Fargo Post 400 and Bismarck from July 9-16.
"Last week and the week before, we were playing our best baseball," Richau said. "That's the type of confidence that we need to get back to. ... In baseball, you've got such a short memory. So I think if we can flush (the errors), it will help mentally. Some things are physical, too, but we've been working on that, and I think we'll be just fine next week."
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Grand Forks Royals head coach Nick Chine has heaped more onto Richau's plate in the batter's box and on the mound this year.
Richau, who will be a senior at Grand Forks Red River this fall, has taken those increased responsibilities in stride. He enters next week's North Dakota Class AA state tournament as one of the Royals' key players.
"More roles are put upon you because the people who have previously done it have left the program," Chine said. "He's been given more (roles) and taken advantage of the opportunity he's been given."
Richau has excelled as Grand Forks' cleanup hitter. He's batting a team-high .375 and leads the Royals with six home runs.
Richau has at least one hit in six of his last seven games.
"This year, I've focused more on just hitting line drives instead of trying to go for it all," Richau said. "Just putting the ball in play, and over time, the rest will take care of itself."
Grand Forks' pitching rotation has also seen a boost with Richau's presence. He has appeared in six games, including four starts. Though Richau's record currently sits at 1-3, he has a 3.27 ERA through 30 innings.
Only Alex Seaver has a lower ERA among Royals pitchers with more than seven innings, posting a 2.64 mark.
"(Richau) hasn't thrown a lot for us, whether it be high school or in the summer, up until this year," Chine said. "He's been one of our guys who's eaten up a lot of innings and thrown pretty well."
Richau also moved up to varsity baseball last season. Between the varsity reps during the spring and playing a summer of 19U ball, he believes the experience has been key to his development.
"Last year was obviously a big difference, going from JV baseball to varsity baseball," Richau said. "Just like anything you do, the more you do it, the more you get used to it. Going into this year, I expected woes to come a little bit more than I did last year, so that makes it a little bit easier. ... I just trust the guys around me a little bit more than I did last season, just getting to know them on and off the field a little bit better."
Richau's second go-around at the American Legion state tournament will begin Tuesday at Jack Williams Stadium in Fargo.
Sixth-seeded Grand Forks will open against third-seeded Mandan.
"It's the best time of year to play baseball," Richau said. "If we come in and play our A game every single day, we know that we're going to have a chance to beat the best of the best teams."
For the Royals to make any sort of run, they'll have to return to form defensively. Grand Forks will enter the state tournament on a three-game losing streak featuring 14 total errors.
"When you've got to beat the opponent and try to overcome your own mistakes, it becomes really challenging," Chine said. "When you're behind on the scoreboard, it limits what you can do offensively and the aggressiveness that you could play with, and the chances you can take. So we were behind consistently, and a lot of that was because we weren't making routine plays defensively."
Prior to that three-game stretch, though, the Royals were playing some of their best baseball of the summer. The Royals won six straight with sweeps of Warroad, Fargo Post 400 and Bismarck from July 9-16.
"Last week and the week before, we were playing our best baseball," Richau said. "That's the type of confidence that we need to get back to. ... In baseball, you've got such a short memory. So I think if we can flush (the errors), it will help mentally. Some things are physical, too, but we've been working on that, and I think we'll be just fine next week."
Continue reading...
