Saints win again

I missed one heck of a game last night in Elrosa, and instead had to devote a couple hours of time to our family garden.

Nevertheless, it's fun to report that the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team picked up a 6-4 win over visiting Richmond in Stearns County League play. The Royals posted a 4-0 lead in the first inning but then were held scoreless in the eight remaining innings.

B-B-E Class of 2019 graduate Payton VanBeck earned the win with seven scoreless innings of relief pitching. Elrosa tallied 12 hits compared to six for Richmond. On the field, Elrosa had no errors to three by Richmond.

Elrosa (5-1 overall) is trying to line up a home exhibition game for this Sunday, June 28. I'll see what I can find out.

Click here (short link) to the Bonanza Valley Voice website to see a recap of the Elite 8 tournament plus additional video from Friday night, and a link to the photo gallery: https://bit.ly/3dDBkay.

Wedding anniversary

It's not often that a wedding anniversary would make its way onto a high school sports blog. In this case, it's well-deserved and for good reason.

Keith and Esther Presler of rural Padua will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary on Friday this week. That is amazing! The Preslers put a long string of outstanding student-athletes through Brooten high school across the 1970s and 1980s. Altogether, the Preslers had five boys and one girl.

The oldest, Kraig, was a member of the Brooten Class of 1975 and part of the first Buccaneers wrestling teams after the program was founded for the 1970-1971 season. Their youngest, Kris, was a member of the Class of 1987 and earned a state runner-up finish in wrestling in March of '87.

Congratulations to the Presler family on this huge achievement by Keith and Esther!

Worship at Crow River Lutheran

On Sunday, June 28, Crow River Lutheran church will host outdoor worship on the lawn (bring your own chair) with a start time of 9 a.m.

Sunday results in Elrosa

Will VanBeck pitched a complete-game win for the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team today. The Saints (3-1) defeated Freeport 12-1 to earn third place at the Elite 8 tournament.

Elrosa had 12 hits in the game. Matt Schmitz scored three times and had three RBI to lead the offense. Also earning hits for Elrosa were Abe Peter, Jackson Peter, Luke VanBeck, Peyton Winter, Ryan Illies, Derek Wiener, Ryan Olmscheid and Will VanBeck.

Next: the Elrosa Saints (4-1) hosts Richmond in a Stearns County League game on Friday, June 26 at 8 p.m.

Other scores today in Elrosa:
New London-Spicer prevailed 9-7 over Watertown in the Elite 8 championship game tonight.

Earlier in the day, Fergus Falls defeated New Munich 10-4 to claim fifth place. Tri-City beat Cannon Falls 10-0 in the seventh-place game to start today's action.

In Stearns County League action on Sunday...
Spring Hill beat Greenwald 14-7.
Meire Grove beat Lake Henry by a 4-3 score.
Richmond beat Roscoe 13-2 in seven innings.

More from Saturday in Elrosa

The Elrosa Saints Elite 8 tournament's second day was terrific, with the evening games missing a thunderstorm by a couple of hours. By midnight, a light storm passed over the area, long after the New London-Spicer vs. Freeport game was complete.

Here's video from Friday night's opening-round game between Elrosa and New Munich:
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Other coverage to follow on Sunday morning.

Saturday in Elrosa

A walk-off RBI-single by Nate Mettenburg lifted Freeport to a 2-1 win over Fergus Falls for a walk-off 2-1 win. It was the first game being played today in Elrosa's Elite 8 tournament.

Tri-City vs. Watertown will follow, set to begin at about 12:30 p.m.

Below, more video from last night, from the top of the sixth inning:


Last night in an exhibition game, the Spring Hill Chargers won at Litchfield by a 2-1 score.

*Update: Watertown defeated Tri-City by an 8-1 score in the second game of today's action.

*Update: at 4 p.m. today, Cannon Falls takes on Fergus Falls in another consolation semifinal game. In the 2 p.m. consolation semifinal game, New Munich is squaring off with Tri-City.

The Elrosa Saints will play Watertown at 6 p.m. tonight in a semifinal game. New London-Spicer and Freeport play at 8 p.m. under the lights at Saints Field in the other semifinal and the nightcap.

*Evening update: New Munich beat Tri-City by a 9-1 score to advance to the consolation championship game; that will be at 12 p.m. tomorrow.

*Another score update: Fergus Falls beat Cannon Falls by a 3-0 score.

*Update: in Elrosa's game with Watertown tonight, we have no score through three innings.

*Update: Watertown scored three runs on four hits in the top of the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead over Elrosa.

Final: Watertown 6, Elrosa 1. The Saints (3-1) play at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in the third-place game.

In the nightcap between NL-S and Freeport, the Twins held a 7-5 lead over the Black Sox after four innings. Also! By that point, the tournament had surpassed 600 hamburgers sold! That is marvelous!!


#RocksandCows

Elrosa wins defensive battle (VIDEO)

Here's one video clip from early in the game tonight:


The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team won 3-2 over New Munich. The game counted as a Stearns County League game, and the win advanced Elrosa into the semifinals of their Elite 8 tournament.

The crowd was great! For the second Friday in a row, Elrosa hosted a baseball game on a most magnificent evening with perfect weather. The mosquitoes aren't even that bad (yet)...

New London-Spicer and Cannon Falls took the field right after Elrosa's game.

*Update: New London-Spicer scored two runs in the second inning, and the final score ended up being 2-0 with NL-S defeating Cannon Falls.

More to report later.

Friday night in Elrosa

I'll get updates posted in this blog post tonight.

Here's video from the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday at Meire Grove:


Elrosa won an exciting game by a 7-6 score to start 1-0 in the Stearns County League schedule.

More to follow tonight.

*Update: with two innings complete, Elrosa and New Munich are in a scoreless game.  The Saints
 have all four hits in the game.

*Update: Elrosa has a 1-0 lead after five innings from an RBI-single by Jackson Peter.

Final: Elrosa 3, New Munich 2. The Saints had 11 hits in the game. They play at 6 p.m. tomorrow night in the semifinals.

Thank you for the business sponsors who help support the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department! It's been a rough year, but we're hanging tough and plan to get through it.

(VIDEO) Saints Post-Game

B-B-E Class of 2020 graduate Jackson Peter lost his entire senior baseball season plus the last two-and-a-half months of the traditional experience of high school due to the COVID pandemic. Fortunately, he has returned to the baseball diamond with another season of amateur baseball with the Elrosa Saints.

Below is a post-game interview from Meire Grove on Sunday. Of course, I did not account for the wind, because I am not a professional videographer!


As said in the video, Jackson has signed with the St. Cloud Technical College Cyclones baseball program. We wish him the best as he looks to extend his baseball career into college!

Here's a web article link, to see another video from Sunday at Meire Grove...posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website (short link) https://bit.ly/2UZHZFr.

*Also! I have on "good authority" that tonight's Elrosa game will be on the radio! Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood will cover the game against New Munich, with pre-game beginning at 6:15 p.m. from Saints Field. If you don't get 107.1 FM on your radio, you can listen via the Internet either on the Smooth Magic website or via the TuneIn app.

Thanks, Brady!

#RocksAndCows

(VIDEO) Season opener

Here's action from the fifth inning in the season opener for the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team, played last Friday in Elrosa against the Cold Spring Rockies.


The Saints host New Munich on Friday at 6:30 p.m. for the opening game of the Elite 8 tournament. The game will also be counted as a Stearns County League game.

I have learned that the Minnesota Attorney General's office has taken a keen interest in Stearns County baseball. I do hope they can come out and take in a game this weekend. I wonder if they know how to get to our ball parks, though?

They never cease to amaze me.

#RocksAndCows

SCL amateur action: Saints vs. Grovers

With four innings in the book, Elrosa has a 5-1 lead at Meire Grove. This game is being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Also broadcasting was MidMNSports out of Sauk Centre. Thanks, Brady and Mark!

Aaron Vogt started for Elrosa, and he pitched 3 2/3 innings before being relieved by Austin Imdieke.

Lots of wind out there!!

Update: in the bottom of the fifth inning, Colton Meyer hit a two-RBI home run over the left field fence to make it a 5-3 score, Elrosa ahead.

Here's video from the top of the first inning today:


And video from the top of the second inning...here, Elrosa scored two runs to take a 2-0 lead:


Meire Grove, playing in their season opener, fell behind 6-3, and then they tied it at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it one heck of an interesting game.

Final score: Elrosa 7, Meire Grove 6. Jackson Peter closed for Elrosa and earned the win. An RBI-double by James Kuefler earned the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning.

Next: Elrosa (2-0) hosts New Munich on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Added Monday morning...a web sports article at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website with additional video (short link): https://bit.ly/3hxexQT.

Around the Stearns County League today:
Richmond won 18-8 in Farming over Spring Hill
New Munich won 3-2 over visiting Roscoe

In the County Line League, Regal won their first game of the season today by a 5-2 score over Paynesville.


#RocksAndCows

Play Ball! Again

I didn't get to St. Martin last night after taking in Elrosa's game, but I did make it to Farming tonight. What an awesome night for baseball!! Again!! Two nights in a row of picture-perfect, majestic evenings.

Farming is hosting Lake Henry right now. The stadium has at least 200 fans. 

And everyone has a smile on their face!!

Below, video featuring part of pre-game, the National Anthem and part of the top half of the first inning:

Through two-and-a-half innings, the Lake Henry Lakers held a 3-2 lead. Farming took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but a three-run home run by Shane Kampsen put the Lakers ahead in the top of the third.

Farming scored twice in the bottom of the third to gain a 4-3 lead.

*Final score: Farming 10, Lake Henry 7. It was a terrific game!!

THANK YOU to Elrosa Lumber and Hardware for sponsoring this Stearns County League baseball post. We hope our sports department will get its momentum back again.

Elrosa Elite 8 tournament

The Elrosa Elite 8 amateur baseball tournament is coming next weekend, June 19-21, to Saints Field. The brackets are getting tweaked right now, but a total of 12 games will be played. The fullschedule will be announced soon.

Opening night, Friday: the Saints will host New Munich for the first game of the tournament. That game will also be part of the SCL league standings. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.

New London-Spicer and Cannon Falls play at 8:30 p.m. under the lights that night.

More great news!

And click here to see Elrosa amateur baseball manager AJ Hadley on a Zoom/Facetime call with WCCO's Mike Max...this was shot yesterday at about 5:15 p.m. from Saints Field stadium: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4589238-amateur-baseball-is-back.

Hadley is a B-B-E Class of 2004 graduate and stand out three-sport athlete for the Jaguars.

#RocksAndCows

(VIDEO) Baseball returns to central Minnesota

Tonight it was all about Elrosa and St. Martin! And Greenwald and Cold Spring, as those four town teams competed in "exhibition" games at the Elrosa and St. Martin ball diamonds.

The Greenwald vs. St. Martin game was counted as a Stearns County League game.

Below, video from the start of the Elrosa vs. Cold Spring game:


The Rockies took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run, but the Saints gained the lead at 2-1 with a two-run bottom of the fifth. Brandon Roelike's RBI-double pushed across the go-ahead run.

Final score: Elrosa 5, Cold Spring 3.

Below is video from further into the game in the bottom of the third inning...B-B-E Class of 2014 graduate James Kuefler is shown as the first batter in the video clip. Elrosa had two runners on base when this clip started:


Jackson Peter, B-B-E Class of 2020 graduate and future St. Cloud Cyclones baseball team member, was Elrosa's starting pitcher. Luke VanBeck, a former Melrose Dutchmen baseball stand out, was the second pitcher. Former Sauk Centre Mainstreeter Eddie Martin followed VanBeck, and B-B-E's Class of 2022 member Will VanBeck was the closer.

Elrosa tallied 11 hits, while Cold Spring had three hits.

Next: the Elrosa Saints open the Stearns County League schedule on Sunday, June 14 with a 1:30 p.m. game at Meire Grove.

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department (me) wants to thank Mark Knoblauch and his MidMNSports for covering the game. He gave updates in the stadium between innings and introduced the batters. Thank you, Mark!

This was the first game of any sort that I've covered in exactly three months. THREE MONTHS! Three months ago, on March 12, I attended and covered the state girls' basketball game with the B-B-E Jaguars facing Cromwell-Wright. That day seems OH, so long ago.

I don't have a final score from tonight's league game between St. Martin and Greenwald. I am currently hunting down the audio for the Mike Max interview with Elrosa baseball manager AJ Hadley...

Final score at St. Martin: Martins 18, Greenwald 0. The Martins had a total of 22 hits.

#RocksAndCows

Elrosa vs. Cold Spring

Game updates to follow here later tonight.

Update: Elrosa scored two runs on the bottom of the fifth inning, erasing a 1-0 deficit. They hold a 2-1 lead going into the seventh.

Final: Elrosa 5, Cold Spring 3.

Hopefully I'll get out to St. Martin as well!

#PLAYBALL

I didn't get to St. Martin, although I wish I could have. As much as I'd LOVE to commit my whole weekend to baseball, I have other irons in the fire.

Elrosa is supposed to have another game tomorrow, Saturday, although I don't have those details yet. I'll get additional information posted in a new blog post.

In terms of B-B-E Jaguar summer sports, right now I am aware of nothing. I do not have information flowing my way on anything beyond Community Ed "skills" camps and strength training. As far as I can see, the summer is a bust for competitive Jaguar athletics. I wish I had better news to report.

Hallelujah! Let's PLAY BALL!

Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord!

The Stearns County League amateur baseball teams will begin action this weekend. They will play games against one another (one game each) this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Also, the Elrosa Saints will host an exhibition game against Cold Spring on Friday night, June 12.

Friday, June 12: Greenwald under the lights of Ray Weber Field in St. Martin at 8:30 p.m. and Elrosa vs. Cold Spring at 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 13: Lake Henry under the lights of Scheper Brothers Field in Farming at 8 p.m.

Sunday, June 14: Elrosa at Meire Grove at 1:30 p.m.; Spring Hill vs. Richmond at Farming at 1:30 p.m.; and Roscoe at New Munich at 1:30 p.m.

In related news, youth baseball restarted about two weeks ago in Elrosa. The Elrosa youth baseball programs have multiple practices under their belts. I will find out tomorrow night when the first Little Dipper baseball game will be held for the Elrosa Saints.

And side note...in unrelated news, on-site worshiping will resume at West Lake Johanna and Trinity Lutheran churches of Brooten. Information on that will be in the June 18 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Here's a summary of "good news" just posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice website. Two items are already mentioned in this blog post...here's the link: https://bit.ly/2YwADKj.

Community calendar

Some items are appearing on the B-B-E Community Calendar, located at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. See what's coming locally, click here (short link) https://bit.ly/3cMuyi0.

Statewide petition link

Here's a petition link that folks can consider filling out: https://bit.ly/3gOYSMe.

Help wanted

HELP WANTED: Feed Co., Paynesville. Position: counter sales plus feed delivery. Lifting 50 lbs and handling of physical work load. CDL with clean driving record. Customer service experience preferred. Ag background preferred. Good communicator and organizer. Email resume to: kevin.weller@mickis.net.