141st Article at the Independent

Milroy Irish secure state berth with Game 3 win over Hadley Buttermakers

Chris Drummond

MILROY — Immediately following a disappointing loss in Game 2 of the semifinals on Monday, the Milroy Irish team made an early statement in the late-starting Game 3.

Milroy’s bats were ready for the 9:36 first pitch and didn’t let up, defeating the Hadley Buttermakers 10-1 in the decisive third game of the Region 13C tournament series.

The Irish clinched a state berth with the win, and will face the Luverne Redbirds in a three-game series to determine who will be the top seed from Region 13 in the Class C Tournament.

The Irish scored seven runs in the first three innings, putting the Buttermakers in an early deficit. The Irish were led by red-hot hitter Ben Heichel, who had a team-high three hits and three RBI. Heichel pitched two scoreless innings of relief, striking out four Buttermakers.

Irish catcher Derek Smith also had three hits and three RBI in the contest.

Milroy starting pitcher Tyler Peterson went seven innings, allowing one run and striking out four batters.

The Buttermakers totaled 10 hits in the loss, including three from Game 2 star Max Zwart. Kyler Deacon also had three hits in the loss.

Game 3 was played immediately following the conclusion of the suspended Game 2. Hadley manager Myron Bennett saw the combined 5 1/2 hours of baseball played Monday night take a toll on the Buttermakers in key moments of the game.

“We had a bunch of hits, we just couldn’t get the clutch hits,” Bennett said. “We made some errors and they started hitting and it got way from us. The good thing about it is we’re not done, we still have an opportunity to go to state. We play Fairmont, we will give it all we got and see what happens.”

While Hadley and Fairmont will battle for the last state tournament spot from Region 13, Milroy’s attention turns from securing a state berth to battling Luverne for the top seed out of Region 13.

Irish manager Anthony Dolan was proud of the way his team fought through the difficulty of the 16 innings total played Monday night.

“Just the battle in these guys and us,” Dolan said. “It’s a long game, where we played seven innings in Game 2 and a whole Game 3 after, so credit our guys for battling. I’m excited for state, we have a good team and I think we can make a deep run.”

Milroy: Hitting: (Peterson 1H; Heichel 3H, 3 RBI’s; Smith 3H, 3 RBI’s; Douglas 2H, RBI; M. Dolan 2H)

Milroy: Pitching IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO- Peterson 7-1-1-10-0-4; Heichel 2-0-0-0-0-4)

Hadley: Hitting (Zwart 3H; Deacon 3H; Blankenship 1H; Graven 1H; Bruning 2H)

Hadley: Pitching IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO- Bruning 1.1-5-3-5-3-1; Zwart 3-4-4-7-0-3; Gilbertson 0.2-1-1-2-0-1; Webber 3-0-0-0-3-0)

REGION 4C

Milroy Yankees 11, Spicer 1 (8 innings)

SPICER — After suffering a loss in the opening round of the Region 4C Tournament, the Milroy Yankees got back to business, defeating the New London-Spicer Twins 11-1 in eight innings on Monday.

The Yankees had a huge six-run inning and used the brilliance of their starting pitcher Isaac Schmitt to slow down the bats of the Twins. Schmitt pitched a complete game and had 11 strikeouts, only surrendering one run.

Yankees players Alex Thompson led the team in hits with three while Andy Schmidt and Jackson Hughes both added two hits and two RBI apiece in today’s win.

The Yankees will face the Starbuck Stars on Saturday afternoon in Spicer.

“Isaac Schmitt set the tone for us from the jump,” Yankees manager Ryan Rohlik said after the win. “He was challenging their hitters and his pitches were working great. He made their hitters uncomfortable and it was good to see. Once we had the big inning, our guys were able to settle down and get comfortable knowing Schmitt was pitching great.

“Starbuck is a fast team that if they get going can hurt you. We’re going to have a difficult challenge ahead of us but at this point every team is good. So we’ll go out, have fun, play hard and see what happens.”

Milroy: Hitting (Tauer 1H, RBI; Andy Schmidt 2H, 2 RBI’s; Flock 2H; Mathiowetz 2H; Schultz 1H, RBI; Thompson 3H, RBI; Jacob Hughes 2H, RBI; Jackson Hughes 2H, 2 RBI’s)

Milroy: Pitching IP-R-ER-H-BB-SO- Isaac Schmitt 8-1-1-5-0-11