American Association Insider: Division Finals Game Four Takeaways

 Kevin Luckow

Both Game Fours are in the books and it was an eventful day as half of the Miles Wolff Cup Final equation has been solved, an era in American Association baseball comes to an end, and the table has been sent for a doozy of a Game Five tomorrow night. 

Milwaukee 7 Kane County 1

With rainy weather scheduled for Friday night, the Milkmen and Cougars began during what most of Wisconsin refers to as Happy Hour. And a Happy Hour it was for 129 Milkmen fans enjoying $1 beers at Franklin Field. After Matt Bottcher got the Cougars on the board in the first inning, the Milkmen took over. Alec Olund hit a two run home run and Griffin Doersching drove in a run to give the Milkmen the momentum back. 

The Milkmen had three other home runs as Doersching connected for a solo in the sixth, while Delvin Perez and Andy Blake went back to back with solo shots in the seventh. 

It was more than enough run support as Angelo Cabral threw five innings allowing one run on one hit, striking out eight batters. The Milkmen bullpen was in lockdown mode allowing just two hits the rest of the way. 

With the loss, we will have a new Miles Wolff Cup champion as the two time defending champs just ran out of steam. The losses of Claudio Finol and Todd Lott were exploited in a series in which the Cougars scored one run in the last three games. 

Today also sees the end of the career of Josh Allen. I can remember Allen, fresh out of the Frontier League, making an impact on the 2018 St. Paul Saints. Allen flat out hit earning a contract with the Mets after batting .344 with a .409 on base percentage. He came back to St. Paul in 2019 where he became more of a power hitting threat, clubbing 17 home runs, a career high. As St. Paul went AAA, Allen's rights were traded to Sioux City, but acquired by Kane County and his St. Paul manager George Tsamis where he played exclusively, winning two Miles Wolff Cups to got with his 2019 championship. He was a model player for the American Association, a great person and a sure fire first ballot American Association Hall of Famer (at least if I had a ballot).

Fargo-Moorhead 6 Kansas City 3

In the word of American philosopher Michael Scott, "well, well, well, how the turntables". Tonight it was the RedHawks using the long ball to take the lead and win Game Four. Jose Sermo with a solo shot and Dillon Thomas with a two run home run spotted the RedHawks to a 3-0 lead. Eric Filia followed with a two run home run of his own in the fourth inning to bump the lead to 5-1 lead in the fourth. Kansas City got to within three with a Luken Baker home run in the seventh. Baker had a chance to tie the game with two runners on base in the eighth but was retired by Justin Lopez to end the inning. 

Parker Harm who has found a niche as a starter got the win allowing two runs in five innings of work. Harm allowed seven hits but also struck out seven. Harm got off to a miserable start in 2026, but credit Chris Coste for remaining confident in his left hander, eventually stretching him out to fill a spot in the rotation. All the RedHawks damage was against Monarchs starter Michael Mariot who allowed all six runs in four innings. 

So it comes down to Saturday night. Game One starters Patrick Wicklander for Fargo-Moorhead and Thaddeus Ward will likely be the Game Five nominees (that one's for you, DV, go Red Raiders!!).

If Fargo-Moorhead wins, Game One of the Miles Wolff Cup Final will be Monday night in Fargo. A Monarchs win, and Kansas City travels to Milwaukee to get the Final going. 




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