by Hannah McIlree, Milwaukee Milkmen

Sioux Falls, SD. —  Milwaukee holds the lead after a near comeback in the seventh inning.

The Milkmen jumped on the ball early in the game. Adam Brett Walker II hit a homerun in the first inning. Runs continued to pile on for the Milkmen in the second inning, second baseman Aaron Hill, and right fielder Trey Martin both earned singles, giving Christ Conley the perfect opportunity to hit a 3 run blast, putting Milwaukee up four to nothing.</

After a calm third inning it was time for the Milkmen to return to the bats. Conley fell victim to a wild pitch by Eddie Medina landing him on first. Anibal Sierra added to the homerun parade, making the lead 6-0 Milkmen.

Leading off the bottom of the fourth for the Canaries was hometown hero Logan Landon, who found flight hitting a homerun to start the inning. Charlie Valerio found a pitch as well, hitting a double into the leftfield corner.Valerio would then score after Hill threw the ball away at first on a blooper from Mitch Glasser, tightening the lead to 4 runs.

Someone let the bird out of the birdcage in the top of the fifth inning. Walker hit his second home run of the afternoon, bringing home teammate Logan Trowbridge who walked in his at bat and David Washington snuck the ball over the leftfield fence in the following at bat. Hill found grass for his third hit of the night, marking the end of the line for Medina. Logan Wiley took over for the Canaries, with a runner on second and one out. Trey Martin was the first to face Wiley, who grounded out but moved Hill to third. Next Conley made it on base with a walk, following was Sierra who hit an RBI single sending the score into double digits. Loading the bases was Brett Vertigan who secured the third walk of the inning. Trowbridge came back  to the plate, scoring Conley. Sierra was next to score after a passed ball making it 12-2 Milkmen.

Sioux Falls left fielder Wyatt Ulrich led off the bottom of the fifth hitting a single. Ten runs down, Landnon, ready to contribute, blasted his second homerun with two outs and scored Ulrich.

The seventh inning stretch was commemorated with a pitching change. Starter David Holmberg subbed out for reliever Nate Pawelcyzk. Pawelczyk gave up two singles before Landon knocked in his fourth RBI of the outing and landed himself on first. Vertigan was unable to hold onto Jabari Henry’s fly ball in center-field, loading the bases for Valerio. Ulrich was next to score after a base on balls to Valerio. Two more birds would score after a wild throw to first base, still no outs. Base on balls continued to pile up, and Pawelcyzk was pulled from the mound and replaced with Zach Hartman.

Hartman’s  first out would come from an RBI fielder’s choice leaving runners on first and third. Shamoy Chistopher hit a sac fly for out number 2 and closed the gap to two runs. Out number three also came from a fly-out to left field, ending the inning 12-10 Milkmen.

Nate Hadley closed out the ninth inning for Milwaukee allowing no runs, making the final score 12-10 Milkmen.