MILBANK – Groton proved to be a tough out at the State B Baseball Tournament on Monday, but the local squad was eventually eliminated from the event in an 11-6 setback to Parkston.

In the end, eight walks and five errors proved to be too much overcome.

“I stress walks and errors kill, and we had a little of both,” said Groton coach Seth Erickson. “Led to a couple big innings for them, but we still found a way back into the ballgame with our bats. Proud of the way the kids battled all tournament.”

After Parkston scored three runs in the top of the first inning, Groton battled back and took a lead in the third inning. Carter Simon, who hit a grand slam home run on Sunday, cracked a three-run homer to tie the contest. Braxton Imrie then put Groton in front with an RBI single.

Parkston tied the game in the top of the fourth before Groton surge ahead again in the bottom half of the frame with a pair of runs. Brevin Fliehs drove in one with a single, and the other run came in on a balk.

Parkston again tied the score with two runs in the top of the fifth.

The score remained tied when Groton came up in the bottom of the sixth. The squad loaded the bases with nobody out on an error and back-to-back walks. However, a pair of strikeouts and a ground out ended that threat.

“Leaving the bases loaded a couple times there really hampered us,” Erickson said.

Parkston then took control in the top of the seventh. After one out, a hit batter and back-to-back wild pitches put a runner on third who came in to score setting the tone for the inning. Parkston would go on to add four more runs in the frame, two of which came on errors. The Trojans ended up scoring four unearned runs in the contest.

Groton received a solid pitching performance from TC Schuster, who threw 105 pitches in 5-plus innings.

“We watched a 15-year-old grow up right in front of our eyes in TC Schuster,” Erickson said. “He threw an incredible game for us and kept us in it.”

Groton received three hits from Teylor Diegel, and a pair of hits from Simon and Gavin Englund.

“Our bats were good again,” Erickson said. “I think we could hit with any team in the tournament. We just didn’t get the big one with guys on base.”

While Groton came up short in its quest to win a state championship, the squad made a deep run in the tourney and proved it could play with anyone.

“Top four, can’t complain about that,” Erickson said. “We made a great run and hopefully showed baseball in northeast South Dakota is still here and still good.”

Parkston 300 120 5 – 11 10 2

Groton 004 200 0 – 6 9 5

Carson Bueber, Taite Klumb (3) and Kaden Holzbauer; TC Schuster, Korbin Kucker (6), Brevin Fliehs (7) and Karsten Fliehs. 2B – Parkston, Carter Sommer; Groton, Gavin Englund. 3B – Parkston, Jaxx Kurtenbach. HR – Groton, Carter Simon.