Milbank, Redfield looking to make their mark in state B American Legion baseball tournament

Two northeastern South Dakota towns with strong baseball traditions —

Milbank and Redfield — are set to battle Friday at about 12:30 p.m. in the second game of the state Class B American Legion baseball tournament in Gregory.

Milbank Post 9 won the Region 1 tournament in dominating fashion last week in Webster and is bringing a 20-8 record in the double-elimination tourney, which runs through Tuesday. Redfield Post 92, which won the Region 6 tourney last week at home, is 20-8.

Milbank and Redfield's high school athletes have competed against each other for years as members of the Northeast Conference, but the two baseball teams have yet to meet this summer.

"We know they have a pretty good group of kids who have been playing Legion ball for two or three years now," Redfield head coach Tommy Gregg said of Milbank. "We know they're well coached and they're very disciplined. There's just no looking past anybody at this point of the season."

More: Triplets Camden, Owen, Peyton continue Osborn family baseball tradition in Redfield

Veteran Milbank head coach Ron Krause, who has led Post 9 since mid-1990s, holds similar thoughts about the matchup.

"I think we can pitch with them. I'm just hoping we can also hit with them," said Krause.

Some strong history for the two programs

Milbank is regarded as the birthplace of American Legion baseball in the United States and Post 9 has captured four state championships.

Milbank won back-to-back state B titles in 1962 and 1963 and also captured titles under Krause's leadership in 2001 and 2016 — the last time Milbank has appeared in the state tourney. Milbank also finished second under Krause in 1997 and 2002.

Redfield is searching for its first state title since 1965, but Post 92 has enjoyed a real strong recent run of success under Gregg.

Post 92 has finished second in the last two State B tournaments, falling to Lennox in 2019 and losing to Tabor 10-6 in last year's state championship at Groton. There was no Class B Legion season in 2020 due to COVID-19.

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What you need to know about Milbank

Now is the time of year when you want to put everything together and Milbank appeared to do just that in the Region 1 tourney last week, defeating Castlewood 13-3, Claremont 10-0 and defending champion Big Stone City 12-2.

"I expected it all year long and I was a little disgruntled we didn't get there. We just couldn't get everybody there when we needed them," said Krause. "Everything came together in the region. We played extremely well and had good pitching."

Post 9 did it without starting shortstop Cole Swenson, who came down with the flu and didn't play in the region. He'll be ready for state, carrying a .393 season batting average with 34 runs scored.

Other offensive leaders for Milbank include second baseman Merik Junker (.570 batting average with 11 doubles, nine triples, 36 runs scored and 36 runs batted in), first baseman Kellen Hoeke (.414 average with seven doubles, two triples and 35 runs scored), catcher Kaden Krause (.350 average with six doubles, three triples, 44 runs scored and 32 RBIs), outfielder Isaac Schulte (.349 average), third baseman Sage Locke (.333 average with seven doubles), catcher-infielder-outfielder Justus Osborn (.328 average with five doubles, three triples) and outfielder Mike Karges (.319 average).

The Bulldogs also featured a solid pitching staff spearheaded by Schulte (5-1 with 39 strikeouts), Hoeke (5-2 with 42 strikeouts), Kaden Krause (2-0 with 37 strikeouts) and Osborn.

With the Legion pitch-count rules adopted in recent years, it's important for pitchers to be economical and get deep into games in a five-day state tournament.

What you need to know about Redfield

Milbank won Region 1 without its starting shortstop Swenson and Redfield won Region 6 and will play in the state tournament without shortstop-pitcher Peyton Osborn, part of a set of triplets on the team.

Osborn compiled a 4-1 record with a 0.77 earned-run average and 43 strikeouts in 27 innings on the mound and a .368 average with four doubles, three triples and 17 stolen bases as the No. 3 hitter before breaking his foot trying to avoid a tag in late June.

"He's one of their assets, defensively and offensively," Krause said. "It puts a little more pressure on the rest of team."

Post 92 didn't miss a beat and the region with a team that returned all but two players off last summer's State B runner-up team and also had some new players off the state B champion Junior Legion team.

Peyton's brothers Camden and Owen are very talented in their own right. Camden has moved to shortstop and serves as the team's leadoff hitter, batting .463 with eight doubles, 39 runs scored and 33 stolen bases. Owen, a second baseman, bats second and is hitting .360 with four doubles, three triples and 32 runs scored.

Other top hitters are third baseman Erik Salmen (.540 average with eight doubles, three triples, two homers and 33 RBIs), outfielder Keaton Rohlfs (.400 with four doubles and 27 RBIs) and outfielder-infielder Nolan Gall (.400 average).

The pitching staff is led by Rohlfs (4-1 record with 3.50 earned-run average), Gall (3-1 with 2.00 ERA), Seth Siebrecht (4-1 record) and Owen Osborn (3-1 record).

"For us to make a run and get to where we were last year, we're going to have to be very good on the mound and score some runs," said Gregg. "We're playing well right now and we're a different baseball team than we were at the start of the year."

Lots of teams hoping to challenge for South Dakota title

Milbank and Redfield each believe they're capable of competing favorably in a tournament that has a number of talented teams.

Other first-round games Friday include Region 5 champion Humboldt-Hartford (13-11) vs. Region 7 champion Winner-Colome (13-6) at 10 a.m., Region 3 champion Vermillion (18-9) vs. Region 2 champion Dell Rapids (18-7) at 5 p.m. and Region 4 champion Platte-Geddes (13-3) vs. host Gregory (16-4) at about 7:30 p.m.

"Dell Rapids has to be one the favorites and you can never count out Vermillion," said Krause. "We saw Gregory three weeks ago in Clark and I can away impressed with how they run the bases. The rest of the field is a crapshoot. Platte-Geddes is good and Humboldt-Hartford's top five guys are pretty tough. The key for anybody is seeing where they can get withy their pitching."

"Dell Rapids has a ton of talent and Vermillion also is a top four team," said Gregg. "But everybody else is pretty good. It's just a deal where you can a team is the favorite, but to go out and win it is a totally different thing."

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Northeastern South Dakota baseball teams to meet in Legion tournament