|
Milaca hits roadblock, loses three at district |
The Milaca American Legion baseball team was hoping to end its season on a high note.
But, after winning an exciting three-game series against Chisago Lakes to advance to the Outstate District 10 Tournament, Milaca dropped all three of its games at the district tourney.
Milaca dropped its opener to eventual district champion Buffalo 5-0 Friday morning, then lost to St. Michael 11-4 Friday afternoon. Mora tipped Milaca 5-3 on Saturday.
Friday’s games were shortened to seven innings because of a rain delay but Saturday’s game was nine innings. All three games were played at St. Francis.
“Overall, we played pretty well,” said Milaca Coach Bart Naumann. “Our pitching staff held up pretty well and we would’ve been in good shape if we could’ve advanced to the final games on Sunday.
“But, we didn’t hit like we had been the past few weeks and we made some errors at critical times.
“It was a good season, though. It just didn’t end like we wanted it to.”
Buffalo and St. Michael advanced from Milaca’s round-robin pool to the semifinals Sunday while Cambridge and Delano advanced from the other four-team pool.
Buffalo stopped Cambridge 8-2 and St. Michael topped Delano 10-2 in the semifinals. Buffalo then trimmed St. Michael 13-7 to advance to the State Legion Tournament which begins today (Thursday) in New Ulm.
Milaca finished with a 10-9 record.
Buffalo 5, Milaca 0
Right-handers Ryan VanSomeren and Zach Bryant combined to limit Buffalo to five hits.
VanSomeren pitched five innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out four. Bryant allowed one hit and four walks in the inning he pitched.
Buffalo scored solo runs in the first and second innings, then took advantage of a pair of Milaca errors to score twice in the fourth inning before adding its final run in the sixth inning.
“We had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the fourth inning but we couldn’t come up with big hits,” said Naumann. “Buffalo is a good-hitting team and we held it to five hits.”
Milaca garnered four hits - singles by Bryant, Tyler Norrgard, Cory Polsfuss and Jordan Ahner.
St. Michael 11, Milaca 4
Milaca came up with 12 hits but left the bases loaded three times.
Polsfuss had a double and two singles while Bryant and Alex Hass each had a double and a single. Norrgard, J.T. Johnson, Ahner, Chas Krotzer and Cole McGraw each had a single.
St. Michael took advantage of Milaca errors to score three runs in each of the first two innings. It added three in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.
Milaca scored two runs in the third inning, one in the fifth and one in the seventh.
Bryant started and pitched five innings, allowing 10 hits and one walk. Norrgard pitched the final two innings, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out four.
“We matched them hit for hit but we couldn’t get the big hits to bring in more runs,” said Naumann.
Mora 5, Milaca 3
Mora, the North End regular-season champion, led 5-1 before Milaca scored twice in the sixth inning.
VanSomeren pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and two walks while fanning four. Norrgard pitched two innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out three.
Bryant and Norrgard each had a pair of singles while Hass, Polsfuss and Krotzer each had a single.
“Once again, we stranded too many runners,” said Naumann.
********
Naumann appreciated the support the team received from Post 178. He thanked Dennis Johnson for providing Gatorade for the team and for photos Johnson took at the games.
“I think the players, coaches and fans had fun this year - I know I did,” Naumann said. “We’ll lose some good players but we have some good ones coming back. I’m already looking forward to next season!”
 |
|
|
