Angels hold off Volga's late surge, advance to Class B semifinals

Aug. 14—MITCHELL — For most of the night Thursday, the Alexandria Angels were in control on their way to another Class B state semifinal Saturday at Cadwell Park. And then they had to hold on tightly and steer the victory to the finish line. But the Angels did just that, improving to 19-3 on the season and knocking out the upstarts from Volga 5-4 in the South Dakota state amateur baseball tournament quarterfinals. It's the second year in a row and 10th time since 2012 that the Halos are in the Class B state amateur baseball final four. They will face fellow stalwart club Dell Rapids PBR in the first semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Mitchell for a spot in Sunday's championship game. Alexandria had a 5-0 run through five innings before Volga made it interesting in the eighth inning. After Alexandria took out its starter Alex Mizsak — who handcuffed the Cormorant offense but was out of gas with 95 pitches — Volga got four hits and four runs off reliever Jack Gray, including a two-RBI double from Milbank's Dom Boerger to draw within 5-4 with one out in the eighth. The Angels handed the ball to A.J. Wilber, who stranded Boerger as the tying run at second base with a strikeout and a groundout, and then retired Volga (16-8) in order in the ninth inning. It was his fifth save of the season, lowering his earned-run average to 0.74 for the season. "He's been our closer, one of our better starters," Angels manager Peyton Smith said. "I knew when he was coming in that he was going to get out of that inning and then finish it off. And that's what he did." It was the top of the order that made the offense happen for the Angels, with the duo of No. 1 hitter Jerrod Zens and No. 2 hitter Dakota Munger each scoring twice. Munger had three hits, two steals, and drove in a run, while Zens had two hits. Preston Nedved, the pickup player from Platte, did the rest, with three hits and three RBIs for the Angels. "That's the reason why we picked him up. We've seen him all year long hit the crap out of the ball," Smith said. "And he's continuing to do that. And that's awesome. Hopefully we can just pick him up behind us and get our other guys starting to get going a little bit." The Angels' offense came despite an incredible strikeout effort from Volga starter Jordan Sagedahl, who rung up 19 strikeouts in nine innings. Sagedahl, a former infielder at South Dakota State University, allowed nine hits, five runs (four earned) and handed out one walk on 148 pitches, with 99 strikes recorded. The 19 strikeouts were the second-most in a Class B state tournament game since 1978, surpassed only by Canova's Dave Gassman and Akron, Iowa's Dylan Kirkeby, who each had a tournament record 24 in 1978 and 2021, respectively. For Volga's offense, Boerger had two RBIs and two hits, and former Dakota Wesleyan University football player Austin Buysse had two hits and an RBI. Alexandria finished with a 9-7 advantage in hits and both teams committed two errors. Mizsak, a DWU pitcher, finished as the winning pitcher, with seven strikeouts and one walk without a run allowed in seven innings, giving up only three hits. The Angels have lost only once since June 4, with 14 wins in their last 15 games. Now with a mix of youth and experience, Zens said both are paying dividends in the postseason. "I remember what it was like to be a young guy like we have now," Zens said. "I was there. They have a lot of energy and I think guys like myself, we feed off their young energy. They're happy to be playing, doing well. Their vibes are great in the dugout and it gets our older guys going. It's a good mesh for our team and I think it's been what we've needed this season."