Jared Quast is one tough hombre - on Fridays.

Quast, a burly 19-year-old right-hander, made his second start of the American Legion baseball season on Friday and he tended to business. Normally Mandan's closer, Quast went the distance, defeating Grand Forks 3-1 at Memorial Ballpark. In his only other start, Quast downed Eau Claire, Wis., 5-2, three weeks earlier, also on a Friday.

The Chiefs used two big innings to win the nightcap 11-7. Both games counted in the statewide standings, enabling Mandan to balance the books at 7-7. In addition, the Chiefs snapped a six-game losing streak.

Quast went about his work with a closer's mentality. His aggressiveness is borne out by his pitch count - 89 pitches, 62 strikes, most of them fastballs.

"I threw fastballs and let them put it in play so the defense could make plays for me," said Quast, a powerful 6-foot, 235-pounder.

The errorless Chiefs made all the plays, including double plays in the third and sixth innings.

"That double play in the sixth was huge. We kept a two-run lead and they had the bottom of their batting order coming up (for the seventh)," Quast said.

Mandan was up 3-1 in the top of the sixth when Ryne Anderson beat out a one-out infield hit, his third safety of the game. Quast walked the next man, cleanup hitter Alex Moe, on a 3-and-2 pitch. Taylor Steen followed with a slicing looper into left field. Shortstop Brent Stoltz, in full sprint, gloved the ball on the fly and fired to second base where there was no play on Steen. Second baseman Steve Pletan alertly relayed to first base where Moe was doubled off the bag for a highly unusual version of a 6-4-3 double play.

Grand Forks' only run off Quast was unearned. Casey Purpur led off the game by striking out on a 2-2 pitch. The ball eluded catcher Steven Serr for a passed ball, Purpur reaching first. Purpur came around to score on a sacrifice bunt, Ryne Anderson's single and a ground out.

Quast said he was determined to get ahead in the count. "I was just trying to work ahead with the fastball, then mixing it up with the change-up and curveball," the pitcher said. "¦ Toward the end of the game I got away from the change-up and threw mostly fastballs."

A few sliders completed the mix. Quast said the curves were the first ones he's thrown in competition this season. "Last year I really struggled with the curveball ¦ so this year I decided to go with the fastball, change-up and slider," Quast said.

Quast, who helped himself with three hits, singled to open the bottom of the second and scored Mandan's first run. He moved up on singles by Sam Salveson and Serr and scored when Stoltz hit into a force play.

Serr gave Mandan the lead with an RBI single in the fourth and Quast provided an insurance run by singling home a man in the fifth.

All of Mandan's offense in the nightcap was packed into two innings - a six-run second and a five-run third.

Serr, Stoltz and Matt Keller rapped run-scoring singles in the second. All of the third-inning runs were a gift, the result of a strategically placed infield error. Jungling contributed a two-run double and Keller added an RBI double to the uprising.

Grand Forks fought its way back into the game, but was unable to draw even. The Royals scored three times in the fourth, once on a bases-loaded walk by right-hander Andy Conlon. They put up a four-spot in the fifth, three of the runs scoring courtesy of relief pitcher Mick Koski's three-run homer over the 330 sign in left field.

Conlon, who got the win, handed the ball to right-handed reliever Jacob Friesz after five innings. Friesz closed the game out with two scoreless innings.

Friday's setbacks ran Grand Forks' losing streak to six games. The Royals have dropped twin bills to West Fargo, Bismarck and Mandan.

Mandan, 18-22 overall, has two days off before playing host to Jamestown on Monday. The doubleheader is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Memorial Ballpark.

Mandan 3, Grand Forks 1

Grand Forks 100 000 0 - 1 6 0

Mandan 010 110 x - 3 10 0

Erick Huderle and Casey Purpur; Jared Quast and Steven Serr. W - Quast, 3-2. L - Huderle. HR - None.

Highlights: GF - Ryne Anderson 3-for-3; Gage Salquist 1-for-3, double; Huderle 6 IP, 10 H 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO. M - Jason Mellmer 2-for-4, double; Serr 2-for-2, 1 RBI; Quast 3-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI; 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO.

Mandan 11, Grand Forks 7

Grand Forks 000 340 0 - 7 11 4

Mandan 065 000 x - 11 13 0

Taylor Steen, Mick Koski (3) and Erick Huderle; Andy Conlon, Jacob Friesz (6) and Steven Serr. W - Conlon, 3-2. L - Steen. HR - GF, Koski.

Highlights: Alex Moe 2-for-4, 2 R; Gage Salquist 3-for-3, double, 1 RBI; Koski 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBIs; 31/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO. M - Jared Muth 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB; Reid Jungling 1-for-3, double, 1 R, 3 RBIs; Matt Keller 2-for-4, double, 2 RBIs; Steve Pletan 3-for-4, 2 R; Sam Salveson 2-for-4, 2 R; Friesz 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO.

Records: Grand Forks 3-13 statewide, 6-17 overall; M 7-7, 18-22.