Firechiefs to Fight for Spot in State Tourney

The Firechiefs begin their bid for a berth at State on Saturday, July 22, in Clark. They take on the Ramona Express at 2 pm. Milbank enters the District 1B tournament as the No. 2 seed. The top seed went to the Lake Norden Lakers.

The Firechiefs ended their regular season by playing two make-up games at Pribyl Park in Milbank last weekend. The Firechiefs fell 10-4 to their EDL rival Lake Norden on Friday July 14. They lost to the Ravens of Castlewood 19-8 on Sunday, July 16.On Friday evening, Kaden Krause drew a walk to start the game and give Milbank their first baserunner. Brady Krause reached on an error to put runners on first and second with one out. Dom Boerger singled to right center to score K. Krause from second. The two teams sat tied at 1-1.

Cam May led off the bottom of the second. He reached first on a catcher’s interference and advanced to second on a passed ball. He put Milbank’s second tick on the scoreboard when Brady Femling doubled to right. Post 9 led 2-1. K. Krause drew a walk. Taylor Boerger followed with a single to load the bases. Mitch Quade drew a bases-loaded walk to send a runner home and put the score at  3-1 in favor of the locals.Milbank tacked on another run in the bottom of the third. Mike Karges reached first on a dropped third strike. May followed with a walk. Femling singled to load the bases for T. Boerger, who drew a walk to score Karges. Milbank pulled ahead 4-3.But the Firechiefs could not muster up any more runs, and the  Lakers managed to add seven to their total. Lake Norden took the victory 10-4. T. Boerger and Femling paved the way for Milbank’s offense with two hits each. 

Milbank played their last game of the regular season against the Castlewood Ravens on Sunday.In the first, Castlewood was ahead at 3-0. K. Krause led off for the Firechiefs by reaching on an error.  Quade followed with a single to score Krause and make it 3-1. Merik Junker homered to left field to tie the game at 3-3 at the end of one.Milbank added two more runs in the bottom of the third. Hoeke drew a one-out walk.  B. Krause followed. He reached on an error. Quade scored Hoeke with a single to center to nudge the Chiefs closer at 9-4. Junker socked a sacrifice fly to send B. Krause home from third and the score to 9-5.

Hoeke led off the bottom half of the fifth with a double. Junker scored him on a single to right to chalk up his fourth RBI of the day.

Hoeke drew a walk to lead off the seventh. Quade made it to first and second when he singled to right field. Junker scored Hoeke with a single to left to nudge the Firechiefs closer at 12-7. Karges singled to center to score both Quade and Junker and pull them even closer at 12-9, but Castlewood poured on the heat and Milbank fell 18-9.

Junker recorded three hits and five RBIs. Quade also added three hits and was credited with two RBIs.ReplyForwardNT