One-run loss sends Jaguars to elimination bracket + golf and track/field news

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team suffered a 1-0 loss to No. 3-seeded Brandon-Evansville on Thursday in the Section 6A winner's bracket opener. It was a difficult pill to swallow, but the Jaguars now have to regroup and prepare for a big game on Monday. The next game is at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 1 at Marthaler Field at Minnewaska Area high school. The opponent will be Long Prairie-Grey Eagle.

The Thunder (16-5 overall) bounced K-M-S from the playoffs with an 11-0 win on Thursday at Browerville.

Fun fact! In the past 3 seasons plus this current playoff run, the Jaguars are 13-5 in Section 6A postseason games. They went 5-0 in the 2023 section playoffs to earn the program's first-ever state tournament berth.

Here's a brief video from the postgame huddle in Elrosa on Tuesday:


In golf news...
Walker Winter tied for 11th place individually as the top finisher for the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team at the Section 5A tournament, which was held at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Willmar on May 20 and May 27. The section finals took place on Wednesday this week with Winter plus his teammates Owen Roering and Cash Lehner participating. After shooting a 90 on May 20 in the first round, Winter shot an 81 in the finals for a total 36-hole score of 171. Other scores for B-B-E: Owen Roering finished with a 178 (90-88), good for an 18th-place tie. Cash Lehner, a freshman, finished with a 194 (89-105) to take 33rd place.

Here's a video featuring the All-Conference announcements at The Lynx Golf Course on May 18:


Olive Olson, a freshman, was the only B-B-E golfer to earn a spot on the All-Central Minnesota Conference teams. A total of 14 athletes earn that award, which is based on 72 holes of golf across April and May.

Recruiting will ramp up considerably for the golf teams going into the summer months. Both the boys' and girls' golf numbers need to increase.

In track and field news...
Seventh grader Brooklyn Breitbach on the B-B-E Jaguars track and field team ran a spectacular 1600-meter run at the Section 5A meet on Wednesday in Collegeville. She finished with a career-best time of 5:23.47, which was good for fourth place out of 16 athletes. Breitbach smashed her previous career-best time of 5:35.7, which she earned over a week ago at the Sub-Section 5A-West meet in Litchfield on May 19.

Taylor Pieper placed 10th (53.93 seconds) in the 400 open as the top boys' finisher.

I've got more to find out and write about from the section meet. Others from B-B-E competing at Section 5A included Mason Douvier, Ziva Miller and Whitney Anderson.

Also, in Section 4A, West Lutheran (the No. 3 seed) swept Gentry Academy in the championship series to earn a spot in the upcoming Class 1A state fastpitch tournament.

Switching gears...
By Friday night, I'm blogging from the Hampton Inn of Oakdale. Five families of my daughter's West Central Wildcats AAU basketball team are staying here. This is the last weekend of our Wildcats season, which started back in April. It's been a privilege to see my daughter participate and become a better athlete through this AAU program this spring. The sports coverage of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has suffered fr om it, but that's all on me and on the decisions I've made while splitting the grueling work of being a small business owner with wearing the "Sports Dad" hat that I've got on my head frequently these days.

That's enough blogging. Time to wrap this up and be ready for the 9 a.m. tip-off of tomorrow's first game at Woodbury high school!

GAME DAY! In Grant and Douglas counties (RADIO)

What a bizarre scenario for the Section 6A playoffs. Bizarre! In the bizarre world of high school sports, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team is at Ashby facing Border West...and that is legit, with both teams having about a 1 hour drive for this neutral site game. The Jaguars and Buccaneers game started at 2 p.m. in Ashby.

If the Jaguars win, they travel to Brandon-Evansville and possibly could face the Chargers on Brandon-Evansville's home diamond tonight if they move into the 6A winner's bracket.

Today's first game was aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Thanks, Brady! Their website is: https://www.kmgk1071.com.

UPDATE in Ashby:
Thanks to a 2-run home run by Noah Jensen, the Jaguars currently hold a 6-0 lead over the Buccaneers.

UPDATE: going into the top of the 7th inning, B-B-E holds an 8-0 lead over Border West.

B-B-E starter Aiden Mueller fired a strikeout for the 3rd out of the top of the seventh inning to end the game. FINAL SCORE: the Jaguars won by a final score of 8-1 against No. 7-seeded Border West. This win improves their overall record to 15-9.

Aiden Mueller went the distance for the Jaguars with a 5-hitter, as the junior veteran pitcher earned 12 strikeouts.  

In another Section 6A game today, the B-E Chargers are hosting Benson. Early in that game, score was tied 3-3. The latest score I heard was Chargers 6, Braves 3. FINAL score: Brandon-Evansville 6, Benson 3. The Chargers will not only host the upcoming winner's bracket game...they will also play in that game even though they are the No. 3 seed of the tournament. (PLEASE someone make it make sense!!!!)

Unfortunately, I am not making the drive to Evansville tonight. I am spending time at home with family and working in our garden. The first 27 days of May had me tied up every single night...without a break.

Game updates to follow...the Jaguars have to travel 9 miles to Evansville now to face the Chargers in the winner's bracket.

UPDATE from Evansville:
The Jaguars trail 1-0 in the fourth inning.

Final: Brandon-Evansville 1, B-B-E 0.  The j

Jaguars play on Monday in the losers

 bracket at Minnewaska Area.

Jaguar baseball advances to Round II of sections (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team won 13-2 in five innings tonight against Rothsay to open the Section 6A playoffs. Seeded No. 2 out of 15 teams, the Jaguars improved to 14-9 with the win. They play on Thursday this week at 2 p.m. in Ashby. The opponent is to-be-determined...stay tuned. The opponent will be either Border West or...Ashby? I have no idea how these brackets are set up.

UPDATE: the Jaguars face Border West in the next round. The 7th-seeded Buccaneers defeated Ashby tonight 11-1 in Wheaton.

Sophomore Lance Radermacher started for the Jaguars and got the win in 3 innings on the mound. He was relieved by Noah Jensen (fourth inning) and Dylan Koob (closer).

Here's video from the bottom of the 6th inning almost 3 weeks ago:


The Jaguars were facing Brandon-Evansville on that night, a team that entered the game with an undefeated record. B-B-E won 3-0.

Time to get back to the newspaper.

Announcing...FREE summer meals at B-B-E elementary, open to the public, all youth ages 18 and younger, no registration required. Just show up and eat! On behalf of my good friend Barb Walstrom, here's the info she wants to get to the public: FREE SUMMER MEALS in Brooten at the elementary, Use door 21 (north door); Monday to Friday (except Juneteenth on June 19 and Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5). Breakfast: 7:45 to 8:35 a.m. and lunch: 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. THANK YOU for your attention to this matter!

Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 26:
Jackson County Central 6, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (Section 3AA winner's bracket final)
Pipestone Area 6, New London-Spicer 3
Pipestone Area 7, MA/CA 1
Melrose Area 11, Holdingford 1 (6 innings; the Huskers season is over)
St. Cloud Cathedral 11, Kimball Area 1 (6 innings; the Cubs fall to the loser's bracket in Section 6AA)

Jaguar baseball earns No. 2 seed in Section 6A

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team has earned the No. 2 seed in Section 6A for the upcoming postseason. The Jaguars open playoffs with a home game on Tuesday (tomorrow) at 5 p.m. in Elrosa. Their opponent will be Rothsay out of the Little Eight Conference. The Tigers, who are 0-16 overall, are the No. 15 seed.

The Jaguars finished the regular season with a 13-9 record. They settled in ahead of Brandon-Evansville (No. 3 seed and 18-2 overall) and Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (No. 4 seed and 14-4 overall) in the section pairings thanks in large part to wins against both teams. On Thursday last week at home, the Jaguars edged Prairie Conference champion LP-GE by a 2-1 score.

Two-time defending Section 6A champion Parkers Prairie is the top seed. The Panthers are 18-0 overall.

It's rough at the bottom of the section this year: the 12th to 15th seeds have a combined record of 6-59 overall.

Section 6A baseball seedings:
1. Parkers Prairie
2. B-B-E
3. Brandon-Evansville
4. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle
5. Breckenridge
6. Benson
7. Border West
8. Browerville
9. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
10. Ashby
11. Pelican Rapids
12. West Central Area
13. Hancock
14. Ortonville
15. Rothsay

The second round of section baseball games are on Thursday, May 28. I haven't looked that deep into the section bracket to deciphere what happens after Tuesday. I also have to go back and see what I have for baseball video. It has been a tough spring to get to high school baseball games.

Here's a video from Thursday in Braham:


The fastpitch team finished the season with a 12-10 overall record. Their postseason awards will be announced at a future time.

Elrosa is hosting Richmond this afternoon

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is hosting Richmond this afternoon in a Stearns County League game. They traveled to Farming less than 24 hours ago, to face the Flames, in another SCL game last night.

Last weekend, the Saints went 2-0 with a 13-3 exhibition win over Starbuck on Friday, May 15. On Sunday, May 17, the Saints traveled to Meire Grove and won 10-2 to improve to 2-1 in the SCL-North division standings.

**Sunday update: the Saints took a 13-3 loss at Farming last night. They were out-hit 14 to 9, and 6 errors proved costly. 

Today, Elrosa won a 3-2 walk off against Richmond with 3 runs scored in the bottom of the 9th inning.

Next: the Saints travel to St. Martin on Friday, May 29 for an 8:15 p.m. SCL game at Ray Weber Stadium.

On Monday: we have two Memorial Day programs to choose from. The Brooten American Legion and Legion Auxiliary hosts at 10 a.m. at the Brooten Pavilion. The Belgrade VFW and VFW Auxiliary hosts at 11 a.m. at Olson Auditorium in the high school.

They graduated: Class of 2026 officially begins "adulting"! (VIDEO)

Welcome, B-B-E Class of 2026, to the adult world! The Class of 2026 in Jaguar Country held its commencement ceremony last night in the high school gymnasium. Altogether, graduation lasted 1 hour and 6 minutes.

Here's video from the end of graduation and after it was completed:


Remember! Grove Lake will hold a Memorial Weekend event tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. at the Grove Lake Chapel. This is located about 3/4 of a mile south of the center of Grove Lake on Pope County Road 39.

During the day Sunday, when I'm not at church or at Grove Lake, I've got 56 garden vegetable plants to get in the ground. Uff Da. We have finally gotten proper spring gardening weather.   

In a new blog post, I'll get some Elrosa baseball updates posted.

This is graduation day for the 37th straight year in Jaguar Country

To watch the graduation ceremony for the 37th class of Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa high school, click on the link to move to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: BBEschoolGraduation2026.

And! I have to acknowledge a mistake in the graduation section of this week's newspaper. The father of Kadynce Haider is not Todd Haider...it's Brad Haider. Todd is Brad's younger brother. It made for quite the text message thread between Todd, Brad and their mom, Kathy Haider! Brad is Kadynce's dad, and he is a 1998 graduate of B-B-E high school. He was a standout football player for Paul Beuning and a standout wrestler for Chuck Marks and his wrestlers. Todd Haider was a terrific wrestler and also a marvelous football and baseball player. In Todd's senior year, he was one of three seniors for the Jaguar baseball team in 2000 along with Travis Schoumaker and the late Adam Hanson.

The Brooten city council meeting agenda has been posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's editor's blog: BrootenCouncilAgendaMay26.