In a battle at the mound, Mount Vernon outlasts Milbank to advance in state amateur baseball tournament

Branden Hull, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·2 min read

Aug. 8—MITCHELL — In a battle at the mound between two dynamic pitchers, Mount Vernon was able to score one run more than Milbank to earn a 3-2 win in the second round of the Class B state amateur baseball tournament on Sunday night at Cadwell Park.

Tied at 2 after three innings, Mount Vernon's Luke Tiesler and Milbanks' Dominique Boerger threw a combined nine strikeouts and surrendered zero hits over the next four innings.

"Two really good pitchers went at it tonight and Boerger is really really good, but Luke's competes just as hard," Mount Vernon coach Deric Denning said. "In the end, Luke was able to get it done. He kept us in the game and we scrapped for that last run."

It wasn't until the bottom of the eighth inning once Koby Larson was able to single on a ground ball that swung the momentum in the Mustangs favor.

Next batter Cameron Deinert was able to reach first base on a bunt attempt, which put two Mount Vernon batters on base for the first time of the night. Chase Hetland was able to hit a single to right field, bringing home Larson and giving the Mustangs a one score lead headed into the ninth inning. Mount Vernon was able to hold off Milbank in the ninth inning by walking one batter and not surrendering a single hit.

"We had so many strikeouts that towards the end there we just wanted to put the ball in play," Denning said. "Hats off to Boerger, he had a really good game, but we just wanted to put the ball in play, put the pressure on their defense and see what could happen."

Boerger for Milbank threw 128 pitches in eight innings, struck out 17 batters and surrendered three earned runs on seven hits. At the plate for the Firechiefs, Kaden Krause tallied one hit and one RBI, while Justin Larson, Taylor Boerger and Lance Frogner had one hit each. Travis Lester drove in one run as well.

Tiesler of Mount Vernon pitched nine innings and while he gave up two earned runs on four hits, he also struck out four batters after a total of 141 times. Offensively, Spencer Neugebauer went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while Hetland went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Eric Giblin had one hit and one RBI, while Larson and Deinert had one hit apiece.

Mount Vernon now advances to the quarterfinal to play Garretson on Thursday, August 11 at 5:30 p.m. Denning said every game in the state tournament will be a challenge, but the Mustangs are ready to face whatever is thrown their way.

"Next up we have Aaron Labrie who's every bit as good as what we saw from Boerger tonight so he doesn't get any easier from here, but we're looking forward to it," Denning said.