Milbank spoiled the bid of Sisseton-Britton-Webster to post a perfect high school baseball regular season record by stopping the Mallards 7-1 last week Wednesday, but the local nine will looking to get back on the winning track in Class B North Region tournament play today (Wednesday) in Sisseton.
Coach Mark Nelson’s squad will be the number two seed and will take a 14-1 record into postseason action. SBW will host #7 Redfield in first round play at 2 p.m. The Mallards swept Redfield 8-2, 10-7 during the regular season.
Third-seeded Milbank will tangle with #6 Clark in the other first round contest at 4 p.m. with the winners playing for a berth in the state tournament at 7 p.m. The state tourney is set for Brookings on Monday and Tuesday, May 25-26.
The other half of the North Region played in Madison will match #1 Madison against #8 Elkton-Lake Benton, and #5 Sioux Valley against #4 Groton Area with the winner also qualifying for the eight-team state tourney field.
Other regional pairings include:
Metro Region in Hartford - #1 West Central vs. #8 Howard, #5 Tri-Valley vs. #4 Sioux Falls Christian
Metro Region in Dell Rapids - #7 McCook Central-Montrose vs. #2 Dell Rapids; #6 Baltic vs. #3 Lennox
South Region in Vermillion - #8 Scotland-Menno vs. #1 Vermillion; #5 Parkston vs. #4 Bon Homme
South Region in Freeman - #7 Canton vs. #2 Freeman-Canistota-Marion; #6 Beresford vs. vs. #3 Dakota Valley
West Region in Platte - #8 Chamberlain vs. #1 Platte-Geddes/DC/WL; #5 St. Thomas More vs. #4 Rapid City Christian
West Region in Winner - #7 Hot Springs vs. #2 Winner-Colome; #6 Gregory County vs. #3 Belle Fourche
Milbank drew first blood with two runs in the bottom of the opening inning with the benefit of an error and never trailed. SBW cut the margin to 2-1 in the third but Milbank answered with two more in the bottom of the frame and then took charge with a three-run fourth.
Mitchell Burger doubled and singled and Colton Chapin added a pair of safeties to lead the Mallards’ seven-hit attack. Levi Nelson, Max Dahlen, and Kaden Mills each singled. SBW committed an uncharacteristic five errors in the contest.
Burger took the pitching loss, throwing three and a third innings and striking out three. Mills pitched two and two-thirds innings of relief, allowing just a single hit and fanning five. Milbank’s Aiden Kelly picked up the win, striking out eight is six and two-thirds innings.
“Mitch did a nice job throwing strikes and Kaden had a great effort in relief,” noted Nelson. “We had some seniors gone and our guys did a nice job of filling those spots, but we didn’t hit the ball well enough to get the win on the road and are going to have to do a better job as a team of hitting in the postseason. It is a huge benefit that our team is so deep, and our big inning pitchers got some well needed rest going into the region.”
