A cool, wet day for Region 8C baseball (UPDATES)

The opening game of baseball at the Region 8C tournament for Sunday, August 3 features Spring Hill facing Roscoe in a win-or-go-home contest at Spring Hill. In the top of the 5th inning, the Rangers hold a 5-0 lead. All of their runs were scored in the first two innings.

In the bottom of the 5th, Spring Hill has scored twice. Austin Schoenberg then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-3 score.

In the top of the 6th inning, the Rangers extended their lead to 6-3.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Rangers hold an 8-5 lead. Spring Hill has the bases loaded with 1 out, but Roscoe is currently doing a pitching change from starter Braden VanderBeek. Roscoe reliever Josh Mackedanz then fired back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

Final: Roscoe 12, Spring Hill 6. The Chargers are eliminated, while Roscoe advances to an elimination game next Saturday (August 9) in Spring Hill with an 11 a.m. first pitch.

What's coming today in Spring Hill:
The second game of the day features Elrosa against New Munich at about 1:30 p.m.

Elrosa vs. New Munich updates...first pitch was just after 2:30 p.m.
Will VanBeck is Elrosa's starting pitcher, while Caden Sand is New Munich's starter.

New Munich scored with their leadoff hitter in the bottom of the first inning.

In the second inning, Will VanBeck and Kevin Kuefler earned back-to-back walks to load the bases. Ethan Mueller batted next, and he launched a three-RBI double! Peyton Winter, Will VanBeck and Kevin Kuefler all scored on Mueller's hit to the right-center gap. Elrosa 3, New Munich 1. Next! Jackson Peter launched a two-RBI home run to extend the lead to 5-1. Ashton Dingmann walked, and this proceeded to bring New Munich manager to the mound and pull Caden Sand from the mound. Will Funk took over pitching duties. Elrosa scored 5 runs on 4 hits with no errors and two left on base. After 1 1/2 innings: Elrosa 5, New Munich 1.

After three complete innings: Elrosa 5, New Munich 1.

In the 6th, Elrosa holds an 8-1 lead. They played 5 innings without an error. Will VanBeck is still on the mound.  

The Silverstreaks loaded the bases on walks and one error in the 6th inning, but they got snubbed on the threat with a ground ball play on Ian Funk's fielder's choice.

****The final score will be posted at 8 o'clock in a new blog post. If Elrosa beats New Munich, they play next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Starbuck in another Region 8C elimination game. 

The final game of today:
The final game of today is a state qualifier, with Regal facing Farming for a state tournament berth.

Region 8C amateur baseball opening weekend scores:
On Friday night in Elrosa, the Starbuck Stars came back from a 2-0 deficit and defeated Roscoe by a 5-3 score. In the other Friday night game, the Paynesville Pirates defeated Spring Hill 3-0.

On Saturday, Paynesville defeated Starbuck to earn the region's first ticket to the state tournament.

Regulation-inning game, but another tough loss to the Chargers

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team hosted Spring Hill and suffered a 3-2 loss in regulation innings. The Chargers pushed the game-winning run across in the top of the 8th inning. For the game, a whopping 30 baserunners were left stranded: 13 by Spring Hill and 17 by Elrosa.

Elrosa scored once in both the first and second innings and rode the early 2-0 lead into the fifth inning. In the top of the fifth, the Chargers tied the game at 2-2. In the top of the 8th, Luke Dehmer hit a one-out single for Spring Hill. He made it a 3-2 lead for the visitors on Ethan Meyer's grounder to shortstop.

Next: the Saints travel to Greenwald for a Stearns County League North division border battle on Sunday with first pitch at 1:30 p.m.

It was a busy and exciting weekend (VIDEOS)

I've got another big newspaper to put out this week, but I also have a few things to reflect on from this past weekend. It was busy and exciting with no down time! I had two big amateur baseball division playoff games, the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters Jake's Day along with church on Sunday morning plus an outdoor concert in Waite Park on Saturday evening.

Here's action from the bottom of the 5th in Spring Hill, as the Chargers put the pressure in Elrosa:


Remember! The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team opens the Region 15C tournament on Friday, August 2 in Watkins.

Here's the National Anthem and the start of the Spring Hill game on Sunday:


In this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, I will finally start previewing the upcoming Belgrade August Fest celebration. This event runs from August 8 through August 10! Also in this week's paper, among many other things, you can read about the Stearns County Fair, which starts on Wednesday this week in Sauk Centre.

Here's a short preview web article on the Belgrade August Fest: https://shorturl.at/OM1N2.

Playoff division championship! Saints secure another title (VIDEO)

Video finally added here on Monday morning...

It's a renewed rivalry game today at New Munich, as the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is set to face Spring Hill in the Stearns County League North playoff championship. First pitch is at high noon!

MidMNsports-dot-com will live stream the game on their website. 

Updates...
Through two innings, the Saints have a 4-1 lead over the Chargers. Devon Orbeck's RBI-single in the top of the first gave the Chargers an initial 1-0 lead.

**Through 4 1/2 innings, the game is tied 4-4.

**Final: Elrosa 6, Spring Hill 5. The Saints won in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning! Ashton Dingmann's RBI-single scored Blaine Fischer for the winning run. A solo home run in the bottom of the fifth by Derek Wiener sparked the offense after the Chargers tied it at 4-4. You can see that in the video below.

Now 15-3-1 overall, Elrosa takes the number one seed from the North Division into the region tournament. Ashton Dingmann also closed for Elrosa and earned the win in 5 innings with 4 hits, 1 earned run and just 2 walks. Elrosa had 13 hits to 7 by the Chargers.

Starting pitcher Riley Meyer limited Spring Hill to 3 hits and one run in the first three innings.

*Here's video from today's game in the bottom of the fifth, during which Derek Wiener hit his solo homer over left-center:

The Region 15C opener for the Saints is at 1:30 p.m. in Lake Henry on Saturday, August 5. Please spread the word!

*In the division elimination game, the Silverstreaks are ahead one to zero over Greenwald. Final: New Munich 10, Greenwald 0. Elrosa opens the Region 15C tournament with New Munich on August 5 (1:30 p.m.).

In the SCL-South, Richmond earned the No. 3 seed to regions with an 8-1 win over Roscoe today. Earlier, St. Martin defeated Lake Henry in another fantastic game by a 3-1 score to secure the No. 1 seed out of the south.

Battle for the Keg

In this summer's first meeting of the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team and Spring Hill, fans were not disappointed as the top two teams in the Stearns County League North slugged it out for an extra-innings contest. After 10 innings, the Saints came out on top by a 6-5 score to improve to 6-1 in the division. Spring Hill falls to 7-3.

Spring Hill took a 1-0 lead before Elrosa scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. James Kuefler hit a three-RBI home run, and Matt Schmitz followed with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Trailing 5-1, Spring Hill stormed back to force a 10th inning with the score tied 5-5 after nine innings.

Below, video taken in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Elrosa scored three runs:
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The rivalry resumes this Sunday, when Elrosa travels to Spring Hill.

By the way, I just read that the Monday night game between our B-B-E Jaguars Legion baseball team and Sauk Centre will be live streamed on MidMnSports.com. The link is http://www.midmnsports.com...action begins at 7:30 p.m. from Elrosa's Saints Field. B-B-E's Legion team is 3-2, while Sauk Centre is 5-0.

(HD video) Elrosa v. Spring Hill

Here's action from the Elrosa vs. Spring Hill baseball game on July 8 at Elrosa:


I'm checking on the status of events at the 133rd annual Pope County Fair in Glenwood. It's been raining on and off all day across the Bonanza Valley. **And I can report that the Demo Derby in Glenwood is a GO for tonight. You can go here to read about the Pope County Fair, and remember their advertisement was in the July 7 and July 14 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2016/07/14/regional/pope-county-fair-is-underway/322.html

Thank you for supporting our local county fair! There's another one coming next week in Sauk Centre...details to follow in the upcoming issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

Season ends for Elrosa

Austin Schoenberg's three-RBI double in the top of the fifth inning was the deal-breaker for the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team in the Region 15C tournament's elimination bracket on Saturday in Roscoe.

Spring Hill's starting pitcher, who went 8 1/3 innings on the hill, hit the one-out bomb deep to the left corner of the outfield with the bases loaded. That put the end to Elrosa's slim 2-1 lead and put the Chargers in the drivers seat on their way to their third straight trip to the Class C state tournament.

Elrosa ends their season 20-6 overall with the most wins in the history of the town.

Spring Hill faces division rival New Munich at 9:30 a.m. this morning (Sunday) in a seeding game to see who ends up in the championship series against New London-Spicer.

In Saturday's first game, Lake Henry ended Roscoe's season with a 9-3 win. Spring Hill then hammered the Lakers 13-2 (seven innings) in the final game of the day. Lake Henry goes to state as the number four seed from Region 15C; they open state on Friday night, August 21 in Cold Spring against TBD.

Spring Hill vs. St. Martin

Great crowd tonight at Saints Field! Here's a glimpse of the press box and crowd in the second inning.

The Spring Hill Chargers punched a ticket to the Region 15C championship game in a thrilling game against St. Martin tonight on a perfect night for baseball at Elrosa's Saints Field. The Chargers took a 2- 0 lead in the 3rd inning, the Martins got on the board with one run in the 5th inning, and the Chargers then went ahead 3-1 in the top of the 8th inning before the Martins tied it 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Spring Hill got a lead off solo home run by Cody Eichers in the top of the 9th inning against St. Martin closer Josh Stangler and ultimately scored two more runs to win by a final score of 6-3. Ethan Vogt, draftee from Elrosa, got the complete-game win for Spring Hill. The Chargers advance to Sunday's championship game, while the Martins play next at 11 a.m. on Sunday against the winner of Saturday's 4 p.m. game.

Here's some video from tonight at the Melrose Beacon website:
http://melrosebeacon.com/content/spring-hill-vs-st-martin-region-15c

And here's more coverage at Herman Lensing's amateur baseball blog:
http://midmnbaseball.blogspot.com/2014/08/friday-aug-8-2014-region-15c.html

Saturday's elimination games include New Munich vs. Regal at 11:00am and Richmond vs. Lake Henry at 1:30 p.m.

More will follow later.

Spring Hill gains state berth

Nate Terres advanced on base in his first at bat against New Munich tonight on an error but was one of three Charger left stranded in the bottom of the second. In his second at bat he struck gold with a three-RBI double that erased an early New Munich lead.

Thanks in large part to four RBI by number-five batter Nate Terres, plus a huge pitching performance by reliever Jordan Welle, the Spring Hill Chargers are heading to the Class C amateur state tournament for the second year in a row.

Nate Terres did a big chunk of his damage in the bottom of the third inning, when he hit a bases-clearing double to bring in three RBI and erase a 2-0 deficit on the scoreboard at Saints Field in Elrosa. A lead off double by Eric Terres, a walk to Jamie Terres and a successful bunt single by Shawn Schoenberg loaded up the bases on no outs. After Corey Schoenberg was struck out by New Munich starter Ty Reller, Nate Terres knocked the ball to straightaway center.

The run scored by Shawn Schoenberg was ultimately the game winner, with the Chargers holding New Munich off the scoreboard in the final six innings in a 4-2 win.

St. Martin and Lake Henry face one another on Sunday at 11:00am in Elrosa in another state-qualifying game.

And a shout out to Gumby and the rest of the Elrosa ground crew and staff! The field was immaculate for the Saturday evening game. Gumby and Company had to deal with a one-hour rain delay after the Meire Grove vs. St. Martin game started at about 4:00pm. Mother Nature didn't put a dent in the crowd, though.

Get a load of this! Over 500 fans attended the Friday night game between Lake Henry and Regal. Then on Saturday the gate drew 715 fans prior to the night game.

Way to go Stearns County! Represent!!

(Photo gallery) Battle for the Keg II

Photos from June 13 in Elrosa as seen at the Sauk Centre Herald photo gallery. I'm working through a big back log of photos and slowly getting caught up...
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Sports/Elrosa-and-SCL-amateur-basebal/Elrosa-vs-Spring-Hill-Battle-f

(Video) Spring Hill draws to a tie in the bottom of the 9th

Here's a 12-minute clip from the 9th inning last night in St. Martin:



Paid attendance on Friday and Saturday at St. Martin and Farming for the five Region 15C games that have been played so far numbers over 1,400. Great job, Stearns County fans!!

Five Region 15C baseball games are in the book

The last two first-round scores from the Region 15C amateur baseball tournament:
Spring Hill 10, St. Martin 3
Richmond 3, New Munich 1

And Saturday night's game...what a game that was! Two heavyweight teams squared off at Ray Weber Field in St. Martin. Lake Henry, regular season champions of the Stearns County League South, got all they wanted from the playoff champion out of the SCL-North, Spring Hill. In the state-qualifying game, the Lakers prevailed in 10 innings by a 6-4 score.

Sunday's games start out with an 11:00am match up between Elrosa and Richmond.

In the night game in St. Martin tonight:
The Lakers got up 1-0 in the first inning but found baserunners hard to come by for the next few innings. Matt Imdieke, draftee from Meire Grove, pitched a splendid game for Spring Hill and ended up going eight innings before exiting the game in the top of the ninth.

The Chargers tied the game at 1-1 and then got an RBI-single out of Cody Eichers for the go-ahead run on two outs. Spring Hill's lead didn't last long, however, when Josh Kampsen clubbed a two-RBI home run over the left field fence on two outs in the top of the 6th.

In the top of the 8th, Cory Nietfeld's RBI-single made it 4-2 Lake Henry. In the top of the 9th, the Lakers got a lead off walk before Imdieke retired and was replaced by closer Corey Schoenberg. He left one stranded with an infield grounder and two strikeouts.

Wouldn't you know it, the Chargers had the top of the order coming to bat in the bottom of the 9th, and they delivered two runs to force a 10th inning. I have to watch the video to get more details, but I know Spring Hill got the two runs off of two hits in the inning.

The Lakers then rained on the parade and got two runs in the top of the 10th inning to win the game.

Josh Roelike started for Lake Henry and pitched as equally well as Imdieke did. Roelike moved to third base after pitching 8 1/3 innings. Reliever Nathan Beier got the win.

Video coming.

Here's a playoff recap written before the Chargers opened up the Region 15C tournament...posted at the Spring Hill baseball team's website: http://www.shchargers.com/news/2410

Photo album link to some of Saturday's region baseball action

Click on the link to see photos from the Spring Hill and Elrosa openers of the Region 15C tournament: http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1512621&CategoryID=69415&ListSubAlbums=0

Battle for the Keg 2012 Part I is tonight!

First pitch is set for 8pm tonight in Elrosa between the Saints and the Spring Hill Chargers in a classic border battle in the Stearns County League at one of the top baseball diamonds in central Minnesota, Saints Field.


From the Spring Hill Chargers website:
The Chargers have been working on their self defense skills because of the upcoming battle for the most coveted sports trophy, the traveling keg.  The Keg will find itself up in Elrosa Friday night at 8:00 under the lights, and will hopefully make the trip back to its resting grounds in Spring Hill.  The Chargers will be defending the safety of the keg where legend has it not only do the Vogt brothers fight with each other while milking cows, they fight with the keg as well.  The confident Saints were even spotted requesting the song Keg in the Closet in anticipation of winning it back.  You can be sure to find the Chargers and Saints battling it out Friday night.  So take yourself out to the ballgame, buy some peanuts and, well let’s face it, adult beverages because this one is sure to be an instant classic.
Source: http://shchargers.com

The biggest game in the history of the Battle for the Keg is at noon on Sunday

Below, the Keg is shown back in Spring Hill's possession following the Chargers 7-4 win over Elrosa on August 7 at the Region 15C tournament...
First pitch between Elrosa and Spring Hill is set for noon at Green Lake Diamonds in Spicer. At stake is a trip to the Class C state amateur baseball tournament.

The "Battle for the Keg" series between Elrosa and Spring Hill dates back to 2007. No game has had more at stake when these teams have met than the one coming on Sunday.

It will be a wale of a game!

Stearns County League fans - the best in Minnesota

Over 200 fans were at Chargers Park in Spring Hill on Sunday for the Battle of the Keg - Playoff style!


Ethan Vogt went the distance for Elrosa on Sunday...he's been a work horse this season for the Saints...

Be sure to make the trip to Elrosa on Saturday, for the Elrosa vs. Greenwald loser's bracket final game of the Stearns County League North division playoffs. First pitch is at 1:30.

What an ending! Elrosa Saints save the best for last as they defeat Spring Hill 4-3, winning with Kuefler's walk-off RBI single

Another classic Elrosa vs. Spring Hill game played out tonight. Shown below is the scoreboard at Saints Field following the game.

A few Saints' reserves stand at attention during the National Anthem prior to tonight's game.

Kevin Kuefler's RBI-single shot through the first/second baseman gap to right field scored the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

• Game recap...

In the second inning, Jonathan Nietfeld's RBI-single on two outs drew first blood. Saints' third baseman Mike Whittemore tagged out Jeff Schoenberg, who tried stealing home plate, to get out of the top half of the frame.

Jeff Schoenberg becomes roadkill in the first inning.


Whittemore would have the lone Saints' hit of the game through the first four innings.

In the top of the fourth, the Chargers added to their 1-0 lead with an RBI-single from Aaron Welle. They added to it in the fifth, with a pop fly attempt in left field on a shot by Sean Schoenberg grazing Andy Mages's glove to bring in Jamie Terres from second base.

Finally in the fifth, veteran Saints' manager Pat Illies led off in the bottom of the fifth with a double shot deep to the center field fence. Steve Mueller followed with a single, and Jonathan Olmscheid then hit an RBI-single out to left field for a 2-1 score.

The Saints would leave two stranded, however, with Jonathan Nietfield grabbing Whittemore's deep hit to center field for the third out.

Aaron Vogt took the mound in the seventh inning, earning two strikeouts to spark the Saints' defense. A double albong the left field line in the eighth was all the Chargers would get off of the Saints' reliever, as he earned two strikeouts on the final two batters in the top of the ninth inning to give fans hope for a miracle.
Things didn't start out too well in the top of the ninth, however, with Illies and Mueller both hitting long pop flies to center field.

Aaron Vogt pitched three strong innings of relief.


Then on a full count, Jonathan Olmscheid was drilled in the helmet by an errant Schoenberg pitch. After getting to first base, he was replaced by pinch runner Darren Wander.

Aaron Vogt, who gives pitchers quite a strike zone, drew a walk and make Saints fans think this just might happen.

The play of the game then took place, when Randy Duevel hit a simple would-be grounder down the middle. It appeared that would be the end of the game, as Chargers' shortstop Jamie Terres scooped it up. He bobbled it, though, letting Duevel safely take first and load the bases.

Saints' leadoff hitter Matt Middendorf took center stage, as he took an 0-2 count pitch from Schoenberg and sent it out to left field, just inside the left-center gap. Wander was well on his way across home plate as the ball fell in outfield grass, and Vogt was given the green light to round third and go for home. With his full strides giving him an extra charge, Vogt slid head first with his left arm stretched out to grab home plate. The slide came just in front of the tag of catcher Nate Terres, and the game was tied at 3-3.

On the next batter, Schoenberg gave an intentional walk to Whittemore, bringing bases loaded once again.

Kevin Kuefler had struck out in his previous four at bats in the game. It didn't matter, though, as he took one of Sean Schoenberg's fastballs and knock it through the first and second baseman into right field. The hit allowed Randy Duevel to score safely from third base, sending the Saints' dugout into a frenzy as they pulled out the come-from-behind win against their neighboring division rivals.

The four-year old traveling trophy (a beer keg with a fancy paint job) would not leave Elrosa on this night.

Aaron Vogt's slide for the third run that tied the game in the bottom of the 9th inning.


Elrosa improves to 4-0 in the Stearns County League North with the win. Spring Hill is now 3-1 in the division.

Here's a video of the game-winning run coming across home plate in the bottom of the 9th inning.


Up next for the Elrosa Saints: a trip to Greenwald on Saturday, May 22, for a 1:30 game against the Cubs.

This weekend's Stearns County League games (Sunday):
Lake Henry at Richmond (1:30)
Meire Grove at Roscoe (1:30)
St.Martin at Farming (2:30 start time)

This Elrosa Saints amateur baseball update is brought to you by: