American Legion
Minnesota Division I
State Tournament

GAZETTE

 

Last updated: 4:38 p.m., Sunday, 8/8/04

CURRENT AND COMPLETED GAME UPDATES

 


Volume 8, No. 4 Northfield, Minnesota Sunday, August 8, 2004

Stage is Set for Battle of Titans
Top rated teams from Apple Valley, Eden Prairie and Woodbury advanced to the final day of the Division I American Legion Baseball Tournament.

In the battle of the unbeatens, Eden Prairie unlimbered their bats for a15-7 victory over Woodbury Blue in the Saturday night marquee game.

Earlier, Apple Valley first defeated host Northfield 7-6 and then had to dispatch Brainerd 6-5 in a couple of nail biters.

In today's first game, Apple Valley will take on Woodbury at Sechler Park at
11 a.m. Both teams have one loss and the loser will be eliminated from the tournament.

The winner will qualify for national regional play and will also take on Eden Prairie for the state championship at 2 p.m.

The double-elimination part of the tourney ends with the 2 p.m. game. The winner will be the state champion even if both teams have one loss.

Minnesota's two winners will advance to national regionals in Ohaha,
Nebraska, or Harrison, Ohio. The World Series will be played in Corvallis, Oregon.

In the Eden Prairie and Woodbury game, the victors rapped out 21 hits, a tournament high. Woodbury led 6-2 in the game, before Eden Prairie exploded for nine runs in the fourth inning.

In the earlier game, Apple Valley trailed 4-2 to Brainerd, before scoring four runs in the sixth to win. Against Northfield in the first game of the day, Apple Valley scored three in the bottom of the ninth for the one-run victory.
Young seeks 500th win – and state title
For the Apple Valley 76ers American Legion Baseball team, staying alive in the State Tournament on Saturday was part of an ongoing mission.

“We’re trying to get Bruce’s 500th career Legion win,” said catcher Kyle Sovde.

Coach Bruce Young of the 76ers has 498 career wins as of this morning, so with two more wins today, he will achieve his milestone and another state championship. Young won 99 games as coach at Minneapolis Hellenic Post and has 399 wins at Apple Valley.

“When you get 500 wins, or 498 wins for that matter, it means you have had the opportunity to coach some great players,” said Young. “I have been fortunate to coach in Apple Valley, because we have a great feeder program and because the kids and their families are dedicated to having a strong Legion Baseball program.”

Young guided Apple Valley to the state Legion title in 2002

in Marshall. But is the continued excellence of the program, not one title, that measures Young’s status as a Legion coach.

This year’s team is uncharacteristic of Apple Valley’s tradition. Usually, Young has an arsenal of power hitters, but this year’s team relies more on pitching and defense.

“It doesn’t matter who we play today, Woodbury or Eden Prairie,” said Sovde after Apple Valley eliminated Northfield 7-6 and Brainerd 6-5 in games played on Saturday.

“Good pitching and defense have taken us a long way,” said pitcher Chuck Lukanen, who is likely to start one of the games today. In the field, everyone has great range and talent.”

John Nelson, who went three for four in Apple Valley’s win over Brainerd, said the 76ers took their 14-8 loss to Eden Prairie hard in a tournament game Friday. “But we were only down for about 15 minutes,” he said. “We knew what mistakes were made. All we said was, let’s win and move on.”

Eden Prairie gets a boost
from win over Woodbury
Eden Prairie’s quest for a Division I State Tournament title got a boost in a 15-7 win over Woodbury Blue in the winners’ bracket final Saturday night at Sechler Park.

The winners pounded our 21 hits, including four by Justin Milo, who is 11-for-16 in four tournament games.

“We’re hitting with discipline,” said Eden Prairie coach Gary Morgan, a former University of Minnesota baseball star. “We’re not quite so anxious at the plate as we were earlier in the season. We’re getting a lot more one-strike and two-strike hits. If we have them thinking short, quick and to the backside, the hands will fire.”

Morgan’s technical explanation is something his players understand. When the same fundamentals are stressed consistently, it’s easy to see why the team is successful.

“These kids really take coaching,” said Morgan, who needs one win at 2 p.m. Sunday to win the state title.

Woodbury and Apple Valley will play at 11 a.m. to determine the other finalist.

Assistant coach Jeff Gackstetter watched Eden Prairie win the state Class AAA high school title in the spring. “We’ll try to make it two in a row,” he said.

Eden Prairie pitching coach “Doc” Quain said the staff will be ready for Sunday’s big game. “We used the regular season to get prepared for the tournament,” he said. “We had a defined rotation, and that has worked very well. It’s Troy Peterson’s turn on Sunday. It doesn’t matter to me who we play.”

Eden Prairie will take a 29-14 record into the state championship game.

Gallagher Looks for "Perfect Game" Sebeka and Ely will Vie for D-II Crown
Nearing the end of his 41st season with Northwest Umpires, Larry Gallagher is still looking for his first ‘perfect game.’ “Every game is a new challenge,” said Gallagher. “The people who play the game deserve my best effort. Have I ever umpired a perfect game? I’m still looking for it. I am always looking for something I can improve on.”

Gallagher said it is an honor to be Umpire in Chief for the State American Legion Baseball Tournament this week. “The thing I wanted to do this year is reward some of the up-and-coming umpires,” said Gallagher, who was one of those up-and-comers himself 40 years ago. “That is part of the reason I took the job. One of the hardest things was not being able to include some of the veterans who deserve to be here.”

Gallagher beamed with pride on Friday when he watched 27-year-old John Priester work a game. “John came to Northwest Umpires from Metro,” said Gallagher. “In a couple years, he might be our best.”

Many people think Gallagher has been one of the best for many, many years. For a 10-year span, he and his partner Phil Abalan worked many of Northwest’s biggest games at the Legion and Amateur levels.

“Over that 10 year span, Phil and I probably did 250 games together,” said Gallagher. When Abalan passed away, Gallagher worked with other partners, but it was never quite the same.

“I’d have to say that Phil was passionate about umpiring,” said Gallagher. “He took it so seriously.”

While they shined their shoes in the parking lot after the games, Gallagher and Abalan would talk about situations and rules for hours. Why? Because they wanted to get it right.

“In umpiring, you expect some mistakes, and you hope you learn from those mistakes,” said Gallagher. Now, as the senior umpire in the Northwest organization, Gallagher takes time to help young umpires, hoping the next generation will carry on the Northwest tradition.

“The No. 1 thing an umpire can control is how he handles his own behavior when situations develop,” said Gallagher. “George Drouches, one of our best umpires, provides a good example of how I want my umpires to work a game. He is forthright and doesn’t aggravate situations.”

Gallagher’s career in baseball has spanned more than 50 years --- as a player, coach and umpire. He was a catcher for the Augsburg College baseball team during a championship season in the late 1950s and played for the highly-successful Halek’s amateur team for many years.

In his 36-year career as a teacher/coach, Gallagher coached five different sports at Tartan High School in Oakdale – baseball, basketball, football, wrestling and volleyball. He didn’t earn a lot of money in coaching, and his umpiring pay has never been awe-inspiring, either. He coaches and umpires because he loves sports.

“When I started in umpiring in 1964, the pay was $20 a game for one-man crew,” said Gallagher. Now an umpire can earn $90 for a nine-inning amateur game.”

Umpiring has become much more sophisticated over the years, thanks to pros such as Gallagher.

“One of my mottos is: Expect mistakes and learn from them,” he said. “When I am working with young umpires, I emphasize getting the proper position. Then it’s a matter of being set to make the call. I like to keep it simple.”

Powers from the North, Sebeka and Ely, will play each other at 12:30 p.m. today at Dundas for the 2004 Division II American Legion Baseball championship.

Sebeka advanced onb Saturday by defeating Jordan 12-2 in a five inning game.

Ely won 3-0 over Benson when Josh Mathson pitched the shutout and also slammed a three-run homer to account for all the scoring. Mathson hit a grand slam on Friday.

On Saturday, Mathson struck out 10 batters.

The winner will advance to the Division II national regional game at Milbank, South Dakota.

The region will begin on August 12, with teams featured from the upper Midwest.

In the third place game, Jordan will take on Benson at 10 a.m. at the Dundas field.

Stewartville defeated Jackson 6-2 to win the consolation title in a game at Northfield High School

Fans who are watching the final game at Dundas can come over to the Division I championship game at Northfield, which will begin at 2 p.m. The games were staggered to allow fans to see both title games.
Northfield had a "host" of standouts
Northfield American Legion Baseball coach Chris Stanton asked the right question shortly after his team was eliminated 7-6 by Apple Valley: “Where’s the State Tournament next year.”

Stanton would like to make it back to the tourney in 2005, no matter where it is played. His ‘River Rats’ got a taste of state competition and liked it. Not only that, they did better than most host teams usually do with a 3-2 record.

“It’s a great experience for our kids,” said Stanton. “We were fortunate enough to play in state at Marshall two years ago. The State Tournament is an unbelievable atmosphere. Someday, it would be nice if we could be mentioned along with the elite teams that qualify for state most years.”

“The game with Apple Valley on Saturday was another example of how we can play with anyone in the state,” said Northfield first baseman Sam Healy. “Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. The team that should win doesn’t always win.”

Apple Valley’s victory was keyed by a close call at home plate. An Apple Valley runner was called safe, giving the 76ers a 4-3 lead.

“I couldn’t tell you if he was safe or not,” said Jeremie Kruse of Northfield. “The only person that matters [plate umpire Bill Ryan] didn’t see it our way. It was fun to play Apple Valley again. We split with them during the regular season and this is a rivalry that goes back all the way to when we were in seventh grade. In this game, they got the breaks and we didn’t.”

Healy and Kruse played big roles in Northfield’s tournament success. Healy had five hits in one day as Northfield

defeated Tri-City Red 12-2 and Moorhead 6-1 on Friday. One of his hits was his longest home run of the season against Tri-City Red.

“I worked the count to 3-2 and the pitcher left one up for me,” said Healy. “At the State Tournament, it’s harder to hit because the pitchers switch up their pitches. They’ll come with breaking stuff on a 3-1 count.”

For the season, Healy batted .328 and had many clutch hits. Other top hitters for Northfield were Josh Maus (.338) and Todd Mathison (.302).

Kruse pitched one of the best games of the tournament when Northfield defeated Moorhead. He allowed only two hits in going the distance.

“I hit my spots and used the curveball to keep them off balance,” he said. “We played well as a team in the state tourney and didn’t make many mistakes. We’re a good team. We split with teams like Apple Valley, Chaska and Lakeville during the regular season, so we felt like we were ready for anyone.”

“For a team that some people said shouldn’t be here, we had a great run,” said Coach Stanton. “Northfield is a good baseball town, and it helps to have events like this and the State Amateur Tournament, which was in Dundas last summer.

“We came out of a very tough district. Woodbury is still alive and Apple Valley is alive, too.”

Reflecting on the loss to Apple Valley, Stanton said, “I thought we had them. We botched two plays when Apple Valley bunted. It was disheartening, but we had a great run.”


Game Summaries, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2004

Division I

Game 30 - Championship
Eden Prairie 13, Apple Valley 3 (8 innings)
EDEN PRAIRIE WILL REPRESENT MINNESOTA AT THE CENTRAL PLAINS REGIONAL IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA AND APPLE VALLEY WILL REPRESENT MINNESOTA AT THE GREAT LAKES REGIONAL IN HARRISON, OHIO. REGIONAL PLAY BEGINS THURSDAY, AUGUST 12.

Eden Prairie     2 0 6   0 0 1   2 2           13   16   1
Apple Valley     1 0 0   0 0 1   1 0           3   16   1

Anderson and Pierce, Gnazzo (7). Ruff, Karlovich (3), Niswanger (7) and Sovde, DeLaHunt (6). WP Anderson. LP Ruff. Home runs: Nate Hanson (Eden Prairie).

Eden Prairie won its first-ever Minnesota American Legion Baseball championship, 13-3 over Apple Valley Sunday afternoon at Sechler Park in Northfield. The game was shortened to eight innings by the 10-run rule. Each team had 16 hits, but Eden Prairie got more mileage out of its hits. Justin Milo, who led all hitters in the Division I tournament with 14 hits in 23 at-bats was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. “We’ve played against Apple Valley since I was 12 years old, and it’s always a good game,” said Milo. “I was nervous before the game, but when we started hitting the ball it was fine. I was just happy to be part of this. Winning the MVP award was something nice on the side.” Milo drove in 11 runs in five tournament games, but going into the state tourney he had no idea he’d produce like that. “In the last two games of the Tenth District Tournament against Coon Rapids and Anoka, I think I struck out five times,” he said. “For state, I had forget about that.” Eden Prairie coach Gary Morgan told the team after the game that they should take time to reflect on what they accomplished. “It isn’t often that a team wins a state high school title and a state American Legion title in the same year,” he said. In the final two games of the state tournament, Eden Prairie had a total of 37 hits against Woodbury Blue and Apple Valley. “Our bats came alive,” said shortstop Nate Hanson, who hit a home run in the victory over Apple Valley. “I don’t even know if I can explain it. We won the high school championship, and we really wanted to win this one, too. When we were trailing Woodbury 6-2 in Saturday night’s game, we talked about what we wanted to do. Then we had a nine-run inning.” Looking ahead to the Central Plains Regional in Omaha, Hanson said, “We’ll be playing the best teams in the Midwest,” said Hanson. “I think we’ll do pretty well – well enough to get to the World Series in Oregon.”



Game 29 - Semi- Final Game
Apple Valley 3, Woodbury Blue 2
APPLE VALLEY & EDEN PRAIRIE GUARANTEED REGIONAL BERTHS
WOODBURY BLUE TAKES THIRD PLACE

Apple Valley     0 0 1   0 1 0   1 0 0         3   9   1
Woodbury Blue     1 0 0   0 0 0   1 0 0         2   6   1

Lukanen and Sovde, Kloetzke, Wagner (9) and Wilson. WP Lukanen, LP Kloetzke. Home runs: None.

Apple Valley earned a trip to a Regional American Legion Baseball tournament by eliminating Woodbury 3-2 in a game Sunday at Sechler Park in Northfield. Winning pitcher Chuck Lukanen was the star of the game for Apple Valley, as he pitched a six-hitter and struck out eight for his second complete game win of the tournament. Lukanen's previous win was a 3-0 shutout of Anoka. The game was a rematch of the Third District championship game, in which Woodbury defeated Apple Valley 6-5 in 13 innings. Sunday's game was the same type of game -- well-playhed, dramatic and filled with fine defensive plays. Bryan Kloetzke matched Lukanen pitch for pitch over eight innings. Jeremy Chlan and Josh Swenson had RBI doubles for Apple Valley and Ryan Langlais added an RBI single. Mark Helsper drove in one Woodbury run with a sacrifice fly and Steve McKeown singled home a run. Valley's left fielder Senson made the biggest defensive play of the game in the eighth inning when he hauled in a long drive by McKeown that carried up against the left-field fence. Steve Englund of Woodbury also made a great catch in left field to take away an Apple Valley scoring opportunity.

Woodbury Blue coach Cary Kipke said, "We knew this game with Apple Valley would be another close game. Both starters pitched excellent games and it was pretty much an error-free game. We had opportunties to win -- that's all you can ask." Woodbury Blue assistant coach Mike Gram said that playing in two out-of-state tournaments and the Third District Tournament prepared the boys for state play. "We played against all-star teams in tournaments in Southern Indiana and Michigan," he said. "There's not one pitcher here [at state] that we were afraid of. In the district tournament, we won four straight against Eagan, Burnsville, Lakeville and Apple Valley." Because Woodbury has 10 of its 13 players eligible to return next season, 2005 could be an even better year. "When you're the team to beat, it is sometimes more difficult," said Kipke. "We've got the fundamentals down. Now, we just have to keep working at it." Gram added, "We can't rest on our laurels. We have to get better. Some players have to get quicker, some have to get stronger. They know what they have to do."



Division II

Game 10 - Third Place
Jordan 2, Benson 1

Jordan     0 0 0   0 1 0   1       2   4   2
Benson     0 0 0   0 0 0   0       1   7   0

Game 11 - Championship
Sebeka 7, Ely 6

Sebeka     1 5 0   0 0 0   1       7   10   1
Ely     0 0 0   4 0 0   2       6   7   4

Milbrandt, Etter (4), Lusti (7) and Etter, Milbrandt (4). Weckman, Scott (3) and Urbas. WP Etter. LP Weckman. Home runs: Etter (Sebeka).

Zach Etter breathed a signh of relief when it was over, then he started collecting both rewards and congratulations from fans. Sebeka's pitcher and shortstop led his team to the Division II State American Legion championship at Dundas Sunday afternoon. He went seven for nine at the plate in the tourney and picked up a pair of pitching victories. The clutch hitter drove in seven runs. Etter was playing short when the last out was recorded in a 7-6 win over Ely in the championship game. Ely had runners on first and third with two outs, and everyone in the park seemed to be focused on the 2-2 pitch. Brad Lusti threw his out pitch, the slider, and the Ely bhitter took it for a called strike three. "Brad threw him a nasty slider," said Etter. Lusti said the choice of pitches at that point was easy. "I had thrown two straight sliders and I didn't think he'd expect three in a row," said the Sebeka pitcher. "I was hoping for eigher a strikeout or a ground ball. I knew our guys would make the play if he hit it." Lusti siad he learned the slider "kind of on my own." This is not his first state championship, since he also won one as a Babe Ruth pitcher. "This one is 10 times better," he said. Sebeka coach Charlie Dormanen said one of Sebeka's concedrns going into the championship game was how to deal with Ely's power hitter, Josh Mathson, who had seven RBIs just on home runs his team'[s first two tournament games. "We had our hands full with Ely," said Dormanen. "As for Mathson, we tried to make him hit the ball to the big part of the ballpark." After Etter and his teammates picked up the championship trophy, he said, "This is the best feeling I'[ve ever had." That summed up the feeling for the entire team, which is a combination of players from the towns of Mehagha and Sebeka.


Game Summaries, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004
Division I

Game 25
Apple Valley 7, Northfield 6
Apple Valley's ability to manufacture runs helped the 76yers eliminate the host team 7-6 in a game at Northfield's Sechler Park. Apple Valley's bunting game produced three runs and another run crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly. Josh Nelson had a double and a single for Apple Valley. Nate Nielsen had a single and a double for Northfield and Josh Maus drove in two runs.

Northfield     1 0 1   1 0 0   0 3 0         6   9   3
Apple Valley     0 0 2   0 2 0   0 3 X         7   6   4

Nytes, Niebuhr (6) and Sather, Niswanger, Karlovich (2), Langlais (8) and Sovde. WP Karlovich LP Niebuhr. Home runs: Langlais (Apple Valley).

Game 26
Brainerd 10, Grand Rapids 8

Tony Hennen's single in the top of the ninth drove in the tying and winning runs for Brainerd in the elimination game at Sechler Park in Northfield. Brady Prince, Chris Klabo and Justin Huether had two hits each for the winners. Peter Goeman had two hits for Grand Rapids and JAcob Magner had three hits. Brainerd's total of 16 hits is a high mark for the tournament thus far.

Brainerd     2 0 1   0 0 2   2 0 3     10   16   5
Grand Rapids     2 0 3   0 3 0   0 0 0     8   8   3

Germain, Kummet (5), Mertens (8) and Holbrook. Tavis, O'Toole (9) and S. Davis. Home runs: Parrish (Brainerd).

 

Game 27
Apple Valley 6, Brainerd 5
Josh Nelson sparked Apple Valley's offenswe, but the big story was Apple Valley's defense, which featured outstanding play in the infield and the outfield. Pat DeLaHunt was the winning pitcher for Apple Valley and Chuck Lukanen came on in the eighth inning to record the save.

Brainerd   1 0 0   1 0 2   0 1 0       5   9   2  
Apple Valley   2 0 0   0 0 4   0 0 X       6   5   1  

Williams, Maskey (6), Mertens (6) and Holbrook. Niswanger, DeLaHunt (6), Lukanen (8) and Sovde. WP DeLaHunt. LP Maskey. Home runs: Swenson (Apple Valley), Huether (Brainerd).

 

Game 28
Eden Prairie 15, Woodbury Blue 7
Troy Peterson and John Buteyn hit home runs to pace a 21-hit attack as Eden Prairie dismantled Woodbury Blue 15-7 in the Division I winners' bracket final at Sechler Park Saturday night. Andrew Dulaney had three hits for the winners, while Justin Milo had a double and two singles to go with his home run. Center fielder Storm Gram led Woodbury with three hits.

Woodbury Blue     1 0 4   1 0 0   0 0 1         7   10   0
Eden Prairie     2 0 0   9 0 0   1 3 X         15   21   0

Wagner, Ingram (4) and Wilson. Morgan and Pierce. WP Morgan. LP Ingram. Home runs: Peterson (Eden Prairie), Bueyn (Eden Prairie), Milo (Eden Prairie).

 

Division II

Game 5
Stewartville 5, Win-E-Mac 2
Brandon Howard led Stewartville to victory in the consolation-bracket game at Dundas on Saturday morning.

Win-E-Mac     1 1 0   0 1 0   0         3   8   1
Stewartville     1 1 2   1 0 0   X         5   11   2

WP Neuman. LP Remer.

Game 6
Jackson 8, Cannon Falls 0
Travis Anderson sparked Jackson's offense, going two for two with a double in a consolation-bracket game in Dundas.

Cannon Falls     0 0 0   0 0 0   0         0   4   4
Jackson     4 0 0   4 0 0   X         8   9   0

WP Lewis. LP Brange.

Game 7 - Consolation Champion
Stewartville 6, Jackson 2
Gavin Hofer hit a home run to lead Stewartville to the Division II consolation championship. Mike Higgins also had two hits for the winners. Cody Lewis hit a triple for Jackson and Jeremy Sirovy hit a single and a double.

Stewartville     2 1 2   0 0 0   1         6   10   1
Jackson     0 0 1   0 0 0   1         2   9   2

WP Dass. LP Sirovy.

Game 8
Sebeka 12, Jordan 2 (5 innings)
Brad Lusti's pitching helped Sebeka dominate Jordan in the state Diviusion II semifinals Saturday. Lusti allowed three hits and four walks in the game, which was shortened to five innings by the 10-run rule. Lusti helped his cause with a single and a double. Teammate Zach Etter had two singles and a double. Tony Meech had a three-run homer for Sebeka.

Jordan     0 2 0   0 0               2   3   1
Sebeka     1 3 0   2 6               12   13   2

WP Lusti. LP Aamodt. Home run: Tony Meech (Sebeka).

Game 9
Ely 3, Benson 0
Josh Mathson starred for Ely in the state semi-final win over Benson Saturday night in Dundas, Mathson hit a three-run homer in the first inning and pitched a shutout, striking out 10. Tim Scott added a double and two singles for Ely.

Benson     0 0 0   0 0 0   0         0   4   0
Ely     3 0 0   0 0 0   X         3   6   1

WP Mathson. LP Stettner. Home run: Mathson (Ely).

 

Back to Tournament Home Page
The Gazette, Thursday, August 5, 2004
The Gazette, Friday, August 6, 2004 (Thursday's Action)
The Gazette, Saturday, August 7, 2004 (Friday's Action)

 


 

Last updated: 8/7/04
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