Union Hill, Webster suffer season ending heartbreakers
Things don’t always work out as planned. Heading into the 2025 Minnesota Amateur Baseball Association’s state tournament this past weekend, leaders of area baseball teams from Union Hill, Elko, Webster and Prior Lake were all confident their teams had the right blend of offense and defense to advance to the second round of competition this weekend.
Playing teams they knew little about, all four teams spent the early part of this week packing away equipment after season-ending losses in the opening round of the state tournament.
Class A
Sartell 3, Elko 1 A late-season surge came to an abrupt end when the Express fell Friday evening, Aug. 15, at venerable Vollmer Field.
The contest opened as a duel of two skilled pitchers, Sartell’s Johnny Schumer against Elko’s Jake Petricka. The two pitchers posted nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard for five-plus innings until the Muskies recorded their first hit in the fourth frame. Petricka pitched his way out of trouble a couple times, like in the fifth inning when he struck out a batter with a runner in scoring position following a base hit and Elko error.
In the sixth, Sartell took advantage of an opportunity in the bottom of the sixth inning. Two hits and a fielder’s choice left the Muskies with the bases loaded and two outs. A fly ball to deep left-center field couldn’t be caught, despite Easton Richter’s diving effort at the wall. It allowed all three runners to score.
“He had the ball in his glove and it came out when he hit the ground,” Elko manager Terry Fredrickson said after the game. “He made a great effort.”
Petricka scattered eight hits and struck out six Muskies.
“Jake pitched well. It was a tough game,” Fredrickson said.
The Express tried to battle back but couldn’t string hits together. Richter spoiled Schumer’s shutout bid in the ninth inning with a solo home run to right field cutting Sartell’s lead to 3-1. Elko tightened Sartell’s collars a bit when slugger T.J. Evanson hit a double in the ninth inning, just reaching second ahead of the tag. But with the tying run at the plate, Elko couldn’t come up with a big hit it needed and the Muskies improved their record to 22-3.
Fredrickson said the game was a frustrating loss since his team played well, enjoyed solid pitching but came up just short.
Elko struggled during the season with injuries and player availability, he said. The Express finished the season at 14-17 overall, 5-5 on league play.
Class B
Cold Spring 6, Union Hill 5 A wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning allowed Cold Spring to score the game-winning run and bring the Bulldogs’ season to an abrupt end Saturday, Aug. 16.
Union Hill scored twice in the first inning. Nathan Berg drove in two runners with a base hit. The Bulldogs had loaded the bases with a double from Conrad Masberg plus Will Busch and Nate Osborne both being hit by pitches.
Cold Spring used the long ball to score twice in the first inning.
UH’s scored two more runs in the second inning when Joe Becker’s blast cleared the left field wall, allowing Becker and Tomas Lee to score.
Osborne scored the Bulldogs’ fifth run in the third. He walked and advanced on Nathan Berg’s double, eventually scoring on a wild pitch.
In the fourth frame, Cold Spring added another run on a walk and two hits. The Springers scored again in the sixth on an extra base hit and a single.
The Springers scored their fifth and sixth runs in the ninth inning starting with an extra-base hit, a hit batter, another double and a walk to load the bases with nobody out before the wild pitch ended the game. The Bulldogs stranded a dozen runners in the game.
Union Hill used four pitchers who teamed up for six strikeouts and seven walks in the game. The Springers managed 11 hits, six for extra bases.
The Bulldogs finished the game with five hits, three for extra bases. Their offense was stymied by a dozen strikeouts.
The Bulldogs finished the season at 16-10 overall, 9-4 in DRS play.
Raymond 3, Webster 0 Raymond used a two-run home run in the first inning to top Webster Saturday, Aug. 16, in Gaylord.
Webster had a tough day offensively. Raymond starter Dreyer Homan and Esau Nelson allowed only three hits in the win.
Webster finished the season at 17-8 overall, 16-5 in league play.
Bird Island 3, Prior Lake 0 The Prior Lake Mudcats saw their 2025 season come to a close Sunday afternoon in Hutchinson, falling 3-0 to the Bird Island Bullfrogs in the first round of the Class B Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament.
Pitching was the story of the game on both sides. Lance Behrens gave the Mudcats a chance with a stellar outing, striking out 10 while allowing just one run on six hits over seven innings. But Bird Island’s Aiden Elfering was dominant, going the distance with a two-hit shutout, striking out 16 and walking just one.
The Bullfrogs broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning on Elfering’s solo home run to left. They added insurance runs later, with Shawn Dollerschell driving in two as Bird Island pulled away.
Prior Lake’s only hits came from Bear Blaney and Jonny Houston, while John Parker led the defense with 12 chances as the Mudcats played error-free ball. Despite the effort, the offense couldn’t solve Elfering’s pitching.
Manager Greg Faue reflected on the season with pride after the loss. “It was a great season considering our slow start,” he said, pointing to the impact of Charlie Bredeson, Noah Slates, and Caden Quinn with their bats and defense, as well as the steady work of pitchers Nick Albee and Ben Morrison, as key drivers of the Mudcats’ playoff push.
Although the season ended in Hutchinson, the Mudcats’ late surge into the state tournament was a testament to their resilience and team depth, Faue said. The team finished 10-16 overall, 8-12 in the always-grueling Dakota-Rice-Scott League.