D-G-F's American Legion baseball team ends season with disqualification

FARGO - The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton American Legion baseball team ended its season on a sour note.

D-G-F's season didn't end because of a loss at the Minnesota, Division II state tournament in Sacred Heart, Minn., but rather a team disqualification due to unsportsmanlike conduct. The disqualification occurred prior to Sunday's games.

Minnesota American Legion baseball director Darwin Berg confirmed Monday that it was an off-the-field incident that led to

D-G-F's disqualification, but declined to comment on the details of the incident.

"I believe the decision was correct," Berg said. "I'm still trying to get more information from different sources."

The Forum attempted to contact D-G-F head coach Al Krueger, but no messages were returned.

Minnesota District 9 American Legion baseball director Roger Niebeling confirmed that Krueger had contacted him about the incident, but declined comment. Niebeling has been the director of District 9 for 10 years and is retiring after director-elect Jeff Miller returns from managing the Division I Northwest Regional in Billings, Mont.

D-G-F opened the tournament with an 11-3 win over Sacred Heart on Friday and followed with a 4-3 win over Ely on Saturday

After D-G-F was disqualified from the tournament, Ely was notified that it would play Stewartville not only for a berth in the Division II Central Plains Regional, but a chance to play for the Minnesota Division II state championship against Plato.

Ely defeated Stewartville 7-5, but lost to Plato 4-3 in the title game. Both Ely and Plato will represent Minnesota in the Central Plains Regional in Wahpeton, N.D., on Thursday.

D-G-F had put together an 18-game winning streak before being disqualified.

Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton qualified for the state tournament on somewhat unusual circumstances a week ago when New York Mills forfeited the Division II, District 9 championship game after its coach had been ejected in a previous game and was told he could not manage the title game. By rule, D-G-F was declared the District 9 champions.

Readers can reach Forum reporter

Tom Mix at (701) 241-5562