Wolves win tournament,
face Becker in sub-section
Posted 5/22/02

Milaca closed out its Rum River Conference baseball season by topping Pine City 3-2 Thursday, May 16, at Milaca, then closed out regular-season play by winning the four-team Wadena Tournament Friday.

Milaca stopped Wadena 5-3 in the opening round of the tournament before trimming Pelican Rapids 3-1 in the championship game.

The Wolves finished the regular season with a 9-7 overall record and 4-6 RRC mark.

Milaca, seeded No. 6, will face No. 3-seeded Becker (8-8) today (Thursday) in the quarter-finals of the Section 6AA Sub-Section 18 Tournament at Becker at 4:30 p.m.

In other quarter-final games, No. 2-seeded St. Cloud Cathedral hosts seventh-seeded Foley and fourth-seeded Pierz hosts fifth-seeded Big Lake. No. 1-seeded Holdingford drew a bye in the first round.

The semi-finals are scheduled Tuesday, May 28, at Faber Field in St. Cloud. The Milaca-Becker winner faces the Cathedral-Foley winner at 5 p.m., with Holdingford meeting the Pierz-Big Lake winner at 7:30.

The title game is Thursday, May 30, at 7:30 p.m. at Faber Field.

"We played very well the last half of the season," said Milaca Coach Craig Talberg, whose team won five of its final seven games. "Weíre hoping to carry that over into the sub-section."

Against Pine City, Milaca rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning after the Dragons had taken a 2-1 lead with a run in the top half of the inning.

Senior Jason Johnson doubled to lead off Milacaís half of the seventh. He advanced to third on a single by senior Travis Johnson, then scored to tie the game on a passed ball. Senior Tom Tadych and junior Joe Barrett followed with singles to load the bases.

Junior Dustin Naumann then stroked a drive off the right-field fence to score Johnson with the winning run.

Barrett, a right-hander, pitched the win, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out five. Just one Pine City run was earned.

Senior right-hander Dave Christianson pitched the distance against Wadena, allowing four hits and four walks.

The Wolves scored single runs in the second and third innings, then pushed three runs across in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Swanson led Milacaís offense as he cracked a triple and a single while sophomore Josh Walz had a pair of singles.

"We put a nice complete game together," said Talberg.

Three runs in the top of the first inning proved to be enough for the Wolves against Pelican Rapids.

Senior right-hander Luke Karels pitched the first six innings, allowing three hits and now walks while striking out six. Pelican Rapids scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning.

Barrett pitched the seventh inning, retiring Pelican Rapids in order.

Tadych and Barrett each had a pair of singles to lead Milacaís seven-hit attack.

On Tuesday, May 14, Mora topped Milaca 7-3 in a RRC game at Mora.

Junior Nate Roehl led the Wolves with a two-run home run in the first inning.