Local ties at state tournament

NEW ULM -- When the 2001 Minnesota State High School Baseball Tournament gets under way Thursday there will be a New Ulm flavor, not only in the Eagles game with Brainerd but also in two other games.

Both Forest Lake, which will tangle with Cretin-Durham Hall at noon Thursday at Midway Stadium, and Luverne, which plays Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in St. Cloud, are coached by former New Ulm High School players.

Brian Raabe is in his first season as head coach of the Forest Lake Rangers while Mike Wenninger is in his third season at the helm of Luverne.

"We come into the state tournament with a 16-6 record," said Raabe, who saw his Ranger team capture second place in the North Suburban Conference. "Our conference was very, very strong and that is one reason that we have done so well in tournament play. Every game that we have played was a tough game. Our non-conference schedule was also tough; we played teams like Coon Rapids (who was ranked first in Class 3A this season); we faced five of the top teams in the state, with the exception of Cretin-Durham Hall."

Raabe's Rangers will get that chance in their opening game of the state 3A tournament.

"We have played Rochester Mayo (who is also in the state 3A tournament), Totino Grace, Stillwater ... we played them all."

Raabe said that the strength of his team is "pitching and defense. That has always been important even when I was playing high school baseball in New Ulm. That is how we win games; we play good defense. In our regional tournament, our offense scored 30 runs in the last three games. But our major strength is the pitching and defense."

Forest Lake made it to the state tournament with a win over Duluth Denfeld, and then beat Grand Rapids twice to earn their trip.

RAABE'S PERSONALITY TAKES OVER TEAM: Anyone who has seen Raabe play baseball knows that he plays the game with a love and intensity that is second to none.

But that intensity that he brought as a player and now a coach was something that the players on Forest Lake had to learn to accept and then capture.

"At the first part of the season, I am sure that the players looked at me like 'who is this guy' because I am a very intense person," Raabe said. "I am all for the kids, love baseball and want the game played right, and now they have taken that on pretty well. They had to get used to me. At first, our team was very quiet; not much enthusiasm at all. Quite honestly, I could not take that so we had a team meeting during a game, and from that point on we have people cheering for people, understanding their roles and handling their roles. I have been very happy with that. The kids are a great bunch of players and even more, a great bunch of young men."

Raabe said that he has learned in his first year about the ability level of his players. "It has surprised me both ways," he said. "Sometimes you don't give them enough credit, and other times you think that they should know something and they don't. But the biggest thing that surprised me that I had to coach them were the small things like pitchers backing up a base after a double or triple or hitting the cutoff man. Early in the year we struggled with that; to me, that is second nature. And at times, people said that they don't take the game in Forest Lake as serious as I do. I found that to be somewhat true, but the kids have been great to work with."

DREAM MATCHUP: There is a possibility that Raabe could meet up with his former coach Jim Senske, depending on what both teams do.

"I am happy with the pairings, but the only pairing that I would liked to have had was with New Ulm. I would enjoy that because that is where I played. I have a lot of respect for Jim and New Ulm. That would be very exciting; I know what New Ulm baseball is all about. A lot of things that I learned in New Ulm I use up here."

WENNINGER ALSO IN FIRST TRIP: Wenninger, now in his third season at Luverne, brings his team into his first state tournament trip with a 16-8 mark. "We were ranked fairly high early in the year because I had a lot of juniors coming back from last year. Our pitching was struggling, but now has come on strong."

The Cardinals, who played in the state tournament in 1989 and 1995, have undergone a change under Wenninger -- a change that mirrors New Ulm's youth program.

"I do seventh- and eighth-grade practices in the summer during the week and I coach the VFW team," said Wenninger. "Our little league program has been coached by Joe Roberts, who has coached for 40 years. He does third grade to sixth grade; that has been strong. That is why New Ulm is so successful; you hear that Todd Hoffmann is now coaching seven- and eight-year olds in their early years and that is great."

Wenninger said that he has tried to instill all the little things that he learned while playing baseball in New Ulm.

"Doing the little things correctly will win you games," he said. "Everybody knows about the big pitcher but we want them to get the little things down. What pitches to hit; look for your count. Plus, we had to change our pitcher's attitudes to become relentless on the batter."

Luverne will play ACGC Thursday at 12:30 at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud,

Wenninger said that he would much rather be a player than a coach. "As a coach, I am more nervous. I told the kids after the section tournament that my fun is over now. This is for them; they have worked for this."

Rest assured, both Raabe and Wenninger will bring a little bit of New Ulm baseball in their games and in their future years of coaching.

You don't argue with success.