A pair of aces

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- On Sunday, Matt Mathiowetz and Matt Gangelhoff were busy trying to eliminate a New Ulm Gold team that had been one game from qualifying from the national tournament a year earlier.

But 25 years ago, a generation before the two helped Sleepy Eye make the state tournament, Mathiowetz's father Glen and Gangelhoff's uncle Mike Gangelhoff, combined to do the unthinkable: No-hit a New Ulm team in a district playoff game.

The story was almost one that Hollywood wouldn't even dream of. In 1979, New Ulm Legion was one year removed from a run that saw it make it all the way to the American Legion World Series in Yakima, Was.

But it ran into a pair of hot hurlers in Mathiowetz and Gangelhoff who both had a very simple game plan facing a team that was dubbed the "Minnesota Lumber Company" for the power it displayed a year earlier at the Central Plains Regional Tournament in Rapid City, South Dakota.

"To put it this way...when you're playing New Ulm, you just worry about not giving up home runs," Mathiwetz said.

"We had a lot of respect for that team," Gangelhoff said. "It was like the dream team of legion teams."

Both Mathiowetz and Gangelhoff knew that defeating a team with the likes of Terry Steinbach, Tom Steinbach, Doug Palmer and Jeff Schugel meant scoring lots of runs.

"We used to go into games thinking we'd have to outscore them, probably like they do today, and I don't know if that philosophy has ever changed against New Ulm," Mathiowetz said.

Mathiowetz pitched the first five innings of the game but had to come out because he pitched the maximum number of innings he could for the weekend. He said he was so focused on getting hitters out that he didn't realize the rare occasion that was taking place.

"To tell you the truth, when I came out in the fifth, I didn't even know that they were no-hit, because you're not always looking at hits as a pitcher," Mathiowetz said. "So I think I first realized it once I got out of pitching."

Gangelhoff also was in the same situation as Mathiowetz, having pitched the seven innings a day earlier. He said that his approach that day wasn't to blow the fastball by New Ulm, but simply throw a lot of curveballs.

"I wasn't an overpowering pitcher, I just worked with location and curve balls," Gangelhoff said. "You know, you weren't going to strike those guys out."

Mathiowetz agreed.

"For Terry Steinbach, I threw almost all curve balls," Mathiowetz said. "Because if you wanted them to hit the ball, you at least wanted it to stay in the park."

While New Ulm had been in the national tournament a year ago and much of the same team was still intact, Sleepy Eye figured it had fielded a dream team of it's own.

"We were definitely the underdogs going in," Gangelhoff said.

"But you gotta realize the same scenario," Mathiowetz said. "Coming out of the high school season, you had two teams that were ranked in the state -- Sleepy Eye and St. Mary's. So it was another culmination of two good teams coming together."

While Sleepy Eye remained unbeaten at 3-0 in the tournament, New Ulm bounced back and advanced to the championship where it had to defeat Sleepy Eye twice.

New Ulm got some revenge in the first game and won, but Sleepy Eye won the second game and went to the state tournament for the fourth time in six years.

However, the trip to state was short-lived as Sleepy Eye lost its first two games and was forced to come home.

While the two had a chance for a short reunion Sunday at Wolverton Field, the two had memories of each other just by looking at the next generation of players on the field that day.

"When I look at Matt Mathiowetz, I see Glen all over again," Gangelhoff said. "He's got the same pitching form. He's got his pants the same way -- it just looks like [Mike] out there."