American
Legion
Minnesota Division I
State Tournament
GAZETTE
| Volume 9, No. 2 | St. Cloud, Minnesota | Friday, August 5, 2005 |
| 12 Advance to Friday's Games |
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| The Longest Day concluded
with 12 teams advancing to the second day of the four-day
Minnesota American Legion Division I Tourament. In 16 games at four fields, four teams emerged with perfet 2-0 records, eight teams ended up with 1-1 records and four teams went home. New Ulm, Easst Grand Forks, Tri-City Red, and host Waite Park bowed out after one day. Woodbury, Rochester, Eden Prairie, and Bloomington Blue went undefeated. Finishing 1-1 were Hopkins, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Alexandria, Apple Valley, Duluth Lakeview, Brainerd, and Coon Rapids. Play will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Putz and Faber Fields at the Municipal Athletic Complex. Eight games will be played. |
Friday's action includes: At
10 a.m. at Putz, Brainerd takes on Duluth Lakeview, while
at Faber, Alexandria takes on Hopkins. At 1 p.m. at Putz,
Apple Valley plays Coon Rapids, and at Faber, Holy Angels
plays Fergus Falls. In the 4 p.m. game in the winner's bracket, Eden Prairie takes on Rochester A's, and at 7 p.m., Woodbury Blue plays Bloomington Blue. There will be two losers' bracket games at 4 and 7 p.m. at Faber. Play begins today in the Division II Tournament in LeSueur. Teams involved are Warroad, Jordan, LaCrescent, Sacred Heart, Pipestone, Nashwauk-Keewatin, Holdingford, LeSueur-Henderson. Both tournaments conclude with championship games on Sunday. afternoon. |
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| Stat
Leaders (through Thurs.) BATTING HITS RUNS SCORED RUNS BATTED IN DOUBLES HOME RUNS TOTAL BASES |
Hanson
Hits Tape Measure Shots for Eden Prairie Club by John Sherman Nate Hanson of Eden Prairie hit two tape-measure
home runs on Thursday to lead his team to a 13-5 victory
over Apple Valley at Joe Faber Field. |
Hanson's
second home run boosted Eden Prairie's lead from 9-5 to
13-5. "That one killed Apple Valley," said Eden
Prairie coach Gary Morgan.Eden Prairie defeated Apple
Valley in the championship game of the state Legion
tournament last season, and the rivalry is an intense
one. "Apple valley has been our biggest rival," dating back to when we were 11 or 12 years old," said Hanson. "It seemed like it was always us and Apple Valley in the finals of every tournament." Hanson, who will play ball at the University of Minnesota next season, is the starting shortstop for Eden Prairie and also takes his turn pitching. "Coming into this season, the question was do we have enough pitching," said Hanson. "We've proved that we do." Morgan said he had no trouble getting his team psyched up to play Apple Valley."At this point, if the kids can't get up to play Apple Valley, something's wrong," he said. "Apple Valley is a very, very good club. I told our guys afterwards that this was about as good a team effort as we could have." While the entire team played well, relief pitcher Ben Chatmas, third baseman Greg Laughlin and left fielder Bryan Lindner got special kudos from coach Morgan. Chatmas shut down Apple Valley's attack, hurling three scoreless innings, while Laughlin made a number of fine defensive plays and went two for five at the plate. Lindner saved several runs with his outstanding defense. Eden Prairie (31-7) will play the Rochester A's at 4 p.m. Friday. |
 Eden Prairie's Ben Chatmas takes a swing during EP's 10-6 win over Duluth Lakeview. |
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Alex Resorts to Pitching, Defense in Win
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Stars
of the Day (Thursday, August 4, 2005) Shortstop Nate Hanson of Eden Prairie had two home runs, five hits and seven RBIs in a 13-5 win over Apple Valley. After pitching Eden Prairie to a 10-6 win over Duluth Lakeview, Brian Morgan caught nine innings in the second game of the day against Apple Valley Pitcher Jake Wendland of Alexandria improved his season record to 7-0 with a 3-2 victory over Fergus Falls. Winning pitcher Lee Anderson hit two home runs in the Rochester A’s 7-3 win over East Grand Forks. Joe Loftus had a single, a double and a homer in Holy Angels’ 8-7 victory over Hopkins. Blake Eller was five for five with a double and a triple in Brainerd’s 12-2 win over Coon Rapids. Allen Bechstein hurled a five-hit shutout as the Apple Valley 76ers defeated Tri-City Red 10-0 in seven innings. Woodbury Blue’s Mark Helsper went five for five in a 10-4 victory over Brainerd. Peter Ghizoni of Coon Rapids had three hits and the winning RBI in an 8-7 victory over New Ulm Gold.
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| Last summer’s trip to
the State American Legion Baseball Tournament ended
abruptly for Alexandria, but that won’t be the case
this year. In the 2004 tourney, Alex got drilled 11-1 by Eden Prairie in the opening round then lost its second game to Brainerd, 5-3. On Thursday, in the first round of the 2005 tourney, Alex used the three-hit pitching of Jake Wendland to top Fergus Falls 3-2. “The secret of my pitching is that I don’t walk many hitters,” said Wendland, who struck out seven and walked one. “The one guy I walked today ended up scoring. I am lucky to have a good catcher, Derick Swenson. We played together on the VFW team two years ago then he stayed on VFW last season. We have been together in high school ball and Legion this year.” “Jake is a warrior,” said Alexandria coach Russ Hinrichs. “He has always been a gamer. He’s our quarterback in football and our kids love playing behind him because he works fast and throws strikes.” Alexandria edged over the .500 mark at 20-19 with the victory over Fergus Falls. “We played a much tougher schedule this summer,” said Hinrichs, whose team has wins over state powers Apple Valley, Grand Rapids, Excelsior and the Rochester A’s. “When we play with emotion, we play well. I think it’s better to play tough competition and be .500 than to win 32 games with a weaker schedule.” Hinrichs said he is fortunate to have a pitcher like Wendland, who is 7-0 and will play for the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth next season. The coach |
also feels fortunate to have
Caleb Curry at shortstop. Curry is back in Legion ball
after playing his freshman season at Fergus Falls
Community College, where he played second base and helped
his team win the state championship. “This is Caleb’s third season of Legion ball and he’s such a great leader for us,” said Hinrichs. “Playing shortstop is natural for him and he sets the tone on the field.” Curry did that in the first inning of the Fergus Falls game when he ranged into left field and hauled in a popup with his back to the infield. Also in the first inning, Chris Briol made a long run, and then slid to catch a fly ball in foul ground. “In baseball, your hitting comes and goes, but if you pitch well and play defense, you’ll be in every game,” said Hinrichs. Alex played Bloomington Blue in its second game on
Thursday. |
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Game Summaries, Thursday, August 4, 2005:
Game 1
Eden Prairie 10, Duluth Lakeview 6
Brian Morgan pitched a complete game with eight
strikeouts for the defending state champions, while teammate Nate
Hanson went three for four with a single, a double and a hoome
run. Jusstin Milo added two singles and a double for the winners.
Carl Sievert hit a home run for Lakeview and teammate Andy Solin
went two for four.
| Eden Prairie | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 1 | ||||||||
| Duluth Lakeview | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
Morgan and Anderson. Heggestad, Mitchell (7), Gow (7), Solin (7) and Hockett. WP Morgan. LP Heggestad. Home runs: Carl Sievert (Lakeview), Nate Hanson (Eden Prairie).
Game 2
Apple Valley 10, Tri-City Red 0 (7 innings)
The Apple Valley 7yers opened the tournament with a 10-0
win over Tri-city Red at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. Winning
pitcher Allen Bechstein allowed five hits in seven innings and
his teammate, Kyle Gold, hit a home run. Tom Buske, Steve
McGuiggan, Dillon Powell, Josh Nelson and Pat DeLaHunt had two
hits each for the 76ers.
| Apple Valley | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 0 | |||||||||
| Tri-City Red | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
Behstein and Carlson. Sam Weber, Porter (2), Rosin (5), Ries (6), Cleveringa (7) and Field. WP Bechstein. LP S. Weber. Home run: Kyle Gold (Apple Valley).
Game 3
Rochester A's 7, East Grand Forks 3
Winning pitcher Lee Anderson of the Rochester A's was the
dominant player in the game, scattering eight hits and helping
his cause at the plate with a pair of solo home runs. Andrew
Marek pitched a complete game for East Grand Forks.
| Rochester A's | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||
| East Grand Forks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 |
Anderson, DeBolt (9) and Olofson. Marek and Sturbakken. WP Anderson. LP Marek. Home runs: Anderson (Rochester) 2.
Game 4
Holy Angels Stars 8, Hopkins 7
Third baseman Joe Loftus sparked Holy Angels to victory
in its first-round game with Hopkins. The 15-year-old third
baseman had a single, a double and a home run. Tony Margarit, who
also homered, drove in three runs for Holy Angels. Bryan Gentz
and Grant Peterson each had two hits for Hopkins, which left 11
runners on base. Paul Matthews had three hits for Holy Angels.
| Hopkins | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 5 | |||||||||
| Holy Angels | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
Brinda, Guthrie (8) and Stearns. Jeff Boyle, Hanson (7) and Krempa. WP Hanson. LP Guthrie. Home Runs: Ben D'Amico (Hopkins), Joe Loftus and Tony Margarit (Holy Angels).
Game 5
Brainerd, 12, Coon Rapids 2 (7 innings)
Brainerd scored six runs in the bottom of the sixth
inning to pull away from Coon Rapids in a first-round game at
Cold Spring. Winning pitcher Adian Kummet pitched a complete game
and struck out eight for Brainerd. The hitting star for the
winners was Blake Eller, who went five for five with three
singles, a double and a triple. He also had two stolen bases.
Mike Germain went three for four for Brainerd. Kevin Johnson hit
a two-run homer for Coon Rapids.
| Coon Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||
| Brainerd | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | X | 12 | 1 | 0 |
Le, Nienaber (2), Fischer (7) and Peterson. Kummet and Holbrook. WP Kummet. LP Ne. Kevin Johnson (Coon Rapids).
Game 6
Woodbury Blue 1, New Ulm Gold 0
Steve McKeown's sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth
inning scored the only run of the game in the first-round
pitchers' duel at Cold Spring. Brandon Wagner pitched seven
innings of the shutout for Woodbury Blue and Mark Helsper came in
to get the save. Woodbury played errorless ball in the field.
| Woodbury Blue | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||
| New Ulm Gold | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
Wagner, Helsper (8) and Kipke. Nilson and Kraus. Home runs: None.
Game 7
Alexandria 3, Fergus Falls 2
Jake Wendland of Alexandria pitched a three-hitter to
beat Fergus Falls 3-2 in the opening round at St. Cloud's Dick
Putz Field. He struck out seven and walked one, while his
teammates made only one error. Clayton Grimstad and Jake Munsch
had back to back doubles in the bottom of the fifth to provide
the winning margin. Casey Kowalski and Brandon Carr had RBIs for
Fergus Falls.
| Fergus Falls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| Alexandria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 9 | 1 |
Fick, Prince (7) and Swiontek. Wendland and Swenson. WP Wendland. LP Fick. Home Runs: none.
Game 8
Bloomington Blue 13, Waite Park 6
Bloomington Blue scored 12 runs in the first three
innings in a 13-6 win over the host team, the Waite Park Silver
Stars. Blue hit four home runs and had a total of 11 hits. Peter
Anderson's three-run homer in the third inning was one of the
biggest hits for Blue. Doug Keller and Ryan Schneider each had
two hits for the Silver Stars.
| Bloomington Blue | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 2 | |||||||||
| Waite Park | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 0 |
Jagiela, Zimmerman (4), Swansson (6) and Valasquez. Haag, Gregory (3) and Hockemeyer. WP Zimmerman. LP Haag. Home runs: Jagiela, Garven, Valasquez and Anderson (Bloomington Blue.)
Game 9
Duluth Lakeview 3, Tri-City Red 2
Michael Mahoney provided the offensive spark for Duluth
Lakeview, as he went three for three with a home run, a triple, a
single and two RBIs. Carl Sievert of Lakeview hit a triple in the
bottom of the eighth to score Mahoney with the winning run. Josh
Gow struck out 10 to get the victory on the mound, while Adam
Weber was the tough-luck loser for Tri-City Red.
| Tri-City Red | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||||||||
| Duluth Lakeview | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | X | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Weber and Moen, Field (8). Gow and Hockett. WP Gow. LP A. Weber. Home runs: Michael Mahoney (Duluth Lakeview.)
Game 10
Eden Prairie 13, Apple Valley 5
Nate Hanson got five hits, including two homers, and
drove in seven runs as the defending state champions raised their
season mark to 31-7 in a 13-5 win over Apple Valley. Dillon
Powell went three for four with an RBI for Apple Valley. Eden
Prairie starter Cole Hytjan allowed eight hits in six innings and
reliever Ben Chatmas pitched three hitless innings.
| Eden Prairie | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 1 | |||||||||
| Apple Valley | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 4 |
Hytjan, Chatmas (7) and Morgan. Lukanen, DeLaHunt (7), Nelson (9) and Carlson. WP Hytjan. LP Lukanen. Home run: Hanson (Eden Prairie) 2.
Game 11
Hopkins 7, East Grand Forks 2
Winning pitcher Dom Chenois hit two home runs for
Hopkins, while limiting East Grand Forks to only three hits. Mike
Davis and Tim Beatty also clubbed home runs for the winners.
| East Grand Forks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| Hopkins | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | X | 7 | 13 | 0 |
Amundson, Leolus (8) and Storbakken. Chenois and Stearns. WP Chenois. LP Amundson. Home runs: Chenois (2), Davis, Beatty (Hopkins.)
Game 12
Rochester A's 10, Holy Angels Stars 2
Lee Anderson hit his third home run of the tournament to
lead the Rochester A's, and A's pitcher Kale Olson went eight
innings to get the victory. Rochester executed a triple play and
Holy Angels got a diving catch from Tony Margarit in left field.
| Holy Angels | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |||||||||
| Rochester A's | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | X | 10 | 14 | 2 |
Loftus, Budin (7), Barriball (8) and Krempa. Kale Olson, DeBolt (9) and Olofson. WP Kale Olson. LP Loftus. Home run: Anderson (Rochester.)
Game 13
Coon Rapids 8, New Ulm Gold 7
Coon Rapids scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth
inning to edge New Ulm Gold 8-7 in a losers' bracket game at Cold
Spring. Preston Ghizoni got the game winning hit with a single
that scored Nick Le. Ghizoni went three for five for Coon Rapids
and Bryan Anderson was three for three. Tyler Morgan, Jeff
Schobrich and Scott Knisley each had two hits for New Ulm Gold.
Brandon Peterson was the winning pitcher for Coon Rapids.
| New Ulm Gold | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 1 | |||||||||
| Coon Rapids | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 2 |
Breu, Knisley (9), Wilfahrt (9) and Geistfeld. Beese, Peterson (8) and Anderson. WP Peterson. LP Knisley. Home runs: Kevin Johnson (Coon Rapids), Tyler Morgan (New Ulm Gold).
Game 14
Woodbury Blue 10, Braiineerd 4
Mark Helsper led Woodbury's attack by going five for
five with two doubles and three RBIs in the victory over
Brainerd. Kyle Holbrook led Brainerd with three hits and
teammates Scott Williams, Mike Germain and Justin Huether each
had two. Only one of Woodbury's first seven runs was earned.
| Woodbury Blue | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 3 | |||||||||
| Brainerd | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5 |
McKeown, Ingram (4), Helsper (7) and Dloetzke, Wilson (3). B. Eller, J. Johnson (8), Germain (9) and Holbrook. WP Ingram. LP B. Eller. Home runs: none.
Game 15
Fergus Falls 7, Waite Park 1
Fergus Falls rebounded from a first-round loss to
Alexandria with a 7-1 victory over the Waite Park Silver Stars.
Casey Kowalski and Andy Price pitched a four-hitter for Fergus
Falls with Kowalski going the first 8 and 2/3 innings. Mic
Johnson and Brandon Carr hit home runs for the winners. Chad
Hendrickson and Carr had two hits each for Fergus Falls, while
Ryan Schneider led Waite Park with two hits.
| Fergus Falls | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 0 | |||||||||
| Waite Park | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
Kowalski, Price (9) and Davenport. Jorgenson and Grafft. Home runs: Mic Johnson and Brandon Carr (Fergus Falls.)
Game 16
Bloomington Blue 6, Alexandria 5
Bloomington Blue made five errors and left 13 runners on
base, but still managed to defeat Alexandria 6-5 in a winners'
bracket game at Dick Putz Field Thursday night. Blue scored three
runs in the bottom of the ninth to snatch the victory. Taylor
Marx had the winning RBI on a single and led the Blue attack with
three hits. Rob Leath and Tony Velasquez each added two hits.
Third baseman Jake Munsch led Alexandria with three hits.
| Alexandria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 1 | |||||||||
| Bloomington Blue | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 5 |
Leuschke, Stier (6), Curry (9) and Swenson. Edlefsen, Johnson (6), Anderson (7) and Velasquez. WP Anderson. LP Stier. Home run: Leath (Bloomington Blue.)
Additional Issues:
| The Gazette, Thursday, August 4, 2005 |
| The Gazette, Saturday, August 6, 2005 |
| The Gazette, Sunday, August 7, 2005 |
| 2005 State Tournament Homepage |
Last updated: 8/05/05
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