Fire Chiefs Heat Up for the District Tournament

The Milbank Fire Chiefs amatuer baseball team holds a 9-6 record. The Chiefs begin play in the district tournament in Lake Norden Thursday, July 20.

Milbank cruised to a 21-1 victory over Sisseton July 11, on the road. The Chiefs got out to a 9-0 quick start after the first four innings. Sisseton scored its only run in the fifth before Milbank plated two more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to cut the game short by the 10-run rule. Milbank scored its 12 runs on 10 hits. Frogner had three. Jackson and Boerger had two each. Conrad, Tony Hofman, and Hall contributed one hit each. Hall earned the pitching win. He sat down nine hitters, and allowed just two hits, one run, and three walks.

The next night, the Firechiefs fell by a narrow margin, 5-3, to Clear Lake in their last home game of the season. Clear Lake went ahead 4-0 after two innings of play. Milbank scored a lone run in the third and one in the seventh to cut the deficit to 4-2. Both teams tallied a run in the final ninth inning, which left Milbank just short of a win. Milbank had just four hits in the game. Hofman had two, and Jesse Krause and Boerger each had one. Brady Krause took the loss for the Firechiefs. He struck out 13 batters, and gave up 10 hits, five runs, and six walks.

Milbank earned its eight runs on 16 hits. Brady Krause and Travis Lester led the Firechiefs with three hits each. Jacob Jackson, Lance Frogner, and Taylor Boerger followed with two hits apiece. Ryan Conrad, Tristan Hall, Brock Gomer, and Ronnie Krause added one each. Boerger went the distance on the mound for Milbank for the pitching win. He struck out 17 batters and gave up three runs, two hits, and four walks.

Milbank rolled to a 8-3 victory over the Castlewood Monarchs Sunday, July 9, in front of a home crowd at Legion Field. Castlewood took the early lead with a lone run in the first, but Milbank answered with a run of its own in the second. The Chiefs plated two runs in the fourth inning to go ahead 3-1. Milbank scored one run in the sixth and two in both the seventh and the eighth innings to secure the 8-3 victory.

Photo: Taylor Boerger.