VFW Teeners Capture State Consolation Championship Title

The Milbank VFW Teeners captured the consolation championship title Sunday in the final round of the 2015 South Dakota VFW State A Varsity Teener tournament in Humboldt. The locals downed Mission 9-3 to claim the title.

Milbank trailed 1-0 after two innings of play. Its offense got fired up and plated four runs in the third inning to go ahead 4-1. The Teeners used solid hitting to add four more runs in the fourth to widen the gap to 8-1. Mission brought home two runners in the fifth inning, but Milbank added another run in the sixth to secure the victory and consolation title.

Milbank finished the game with nine runs on six hits. Tanner Gauer led the locals with two hits, including a big triple, three runs, two stolen bases and an RBI. Dylan Johnson belted out one hit, plated two runs and had a walk and two RBIs in the contest. Jonny Ash added a double, one run, two walks and two RBIs while Jake Anderson and Cole Dockter had one hit and one run each. Also contributing to the offense were Mitch Quade, a walk; Jake Fox, two RBIs; Jake Karges, RBI, and Gage Sayler and Tanner Bock, one walk each.

Box Score:

In the opening game of the tournament Friday, Milbank suffered a close 5-3 loss to Dakota Valley. The matchup was identical to the first round of the state Junior Teener tournament last year which Dakota Valley went on to win.

The locals fell behind 3-0 after the opening inning. The Teeners remained behind at 5-0 at the conclusion of five innings. A late seventh inning rally saw Milbank plate three runs, but the rally ended just short and the locals fell 5-3. Milbank completed the game with three runs on 10 hits and two errors. No other statistics from the contest were reported.

In its second game of the tournament Saturday, Milbank slipped past Dell Rapids 5-3. The tight battle began in the opening inning where Milbank trailed 3-2. Mogard scored a run in the second inning to knot the score at 3-3. Both teams stepped up its defensive attack and held the other scoreless until the seventh inning when Milbank broke through with two runs to secure the victory.

The Teeners scored its five runs on nine hits in the contest. Gauer led the way for the locals with two hits, two runs, two stolen bases and a walk. Ash followed with two hits, including a double, one run and two RBIs while Anderson added two hits, a stolen base and an RBI. Johnson had one hit, one run and one stolen base, and Mogard contributed a hit, a run and a stolen base. Quade rounded out the offensive totals with a hit, stolen base and RBI for Milbank.

Box Score: