MVL faces hot-hitting Perham

Chargers making first state trip

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The theme for the Minnesota Valley Lutheran baseball team when it open play in the Minnesota State High School Class AA Baseball Tournament this afternoon might well be taken from the old "Star Trek" series.

"To boldly go where no man has gone before."

The Chargers, 18-7, will play in their first-ever state baseball tournament at 12:30 p.m. today when they take on Section 8AA champion Perham (19-4)

Last year, the Pirates took home third place with a win over Hermantown.

Perham, along with St. Cloud Cathedral (the defending AA state champion), Hermantown and LaCrescent are returning teams fron last year's state tournament.

But the Chargers' first concern will be Perham, a team that comes in with some impressive statistics.

In their Section 8AA series, Perham recorded wins of 10-0 over Dilworth-Glyndon/Felton, an 11-1 win over Pine River-Backus, and shutout Pequot Lakes 10-0 before recording wins of 14-2 over Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and a 14-3 pasting of Roseau in their championship game.

That adds up to a 59-6 scoring advantage for the Pirates in their last five games. This season, Perham has scored 10 runs more 11 times.

"They score a lot of runs," said MVL coach Jeff Schoenherr. "They also have seven hitters who are hitting over .300 coming into the state tournament."

Perham, which won the Mid-State conference, also has some power with 17 home runs as a team this season. Jason Hoffmann leads the team with seven home runs and 23 RBI.

Perham has strong pitching, led by Pete Guck who is 5-0 and has allowed just one earned run in 36 innings. Brandon Fritz is the number two picher for the Pirates with a 6-1 mark. In 33 inings, he has struck out 53 batters.

'They have four players who do some pitching for them -- Guck and Fritz do the majority of their pitching," said Schoenherr. 'So it appears that they have plenty of pitching."

Schoenherr feels that Perham may resemble a team that the Chargers just finished up with in Hayfield, as far as hitting goes.

"One of the better hitting teams that we faced this year was Hayfield -- (Perham) will be similiar to them so we are going to have to score some runs to keep up with them," Schoenherr said.

Perham will be making its seventh state tournament and fourth straight state trip. It has gone 4-8 in the tournament with two third-place finishes while MVL is making its initial appearance.

"I think that we will have to see if our inexperience is good or bad -- I am hoping that it is good," said Schoenherr. "I think that the excitement will get us going. But it also could be bad -- Perham was there last year so they are up on us that way."

The third-year coach for the Chargers feels that he is more worried about what his team does rather than what Perham does in their opening-round match-up.

"As long as we go out and play defense, I think that we can limit some of the scoring that Perham does -- that is what I am hoping."

He also feels that the Chargers' win over Hayfield may have given his young team with only two seniors on it, some confidence going into the state tournament.

"It was a bigger game, experience-wise, for us than some of our other games, I am hoping that we can build on that experience."

Schoenherr said that he will go with either Ryan Sander or Sam Mielke in the opener

"Regardless of who we start on the mound, we have to play solid defense. We have been hitting the ball down the stretch but I think that it will come down to our defense. The last couple of games we have had three errors each game. If we expect to win, we have to limit those errors."

Win or lose, the Chargers will play at 5:15 p.m. today. If they win, they will meet the winner of the St. Cloud Cathedral versus Breck game.If they lose, they would play the loser of that game.

Here is the Thursday schedule;

10 a.m.: Hermantown (Section 7) vs. Jackson County Central (Section 3) (Dick Putz Field) Delano ( Section 5) vs. LaCrescent (Section One) Joe Faber Field.

12:30 p.m.: MVL (Section 2) vs. Perham (Section 8), Dick Putz Field. St. Cloud Cathedral (Section 6) vs. Breck (Section 4 (Joe Farber Field.

DICK PUTZ FIELD

Upper Bracket winners 2:45 p.m.

Lower Bracket winners 5:15 p.m.

JOE FABER FIELD

Upper Bracket losers 2:45 p.m.

Lower Bracker losers 5:15 p.m.

FRIDAY

(All games at Dick Putz Field)

Consolation championship, noon

Third place , 2:30 p.m.

Championship, 5:30 p.m.