(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