New Ulm, Sleepy Eye at State Legion

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- New Ulm Legion Gold and Sleepy Eye kick off their 2001 Minnesota State American Legion Tournament today in opening round games.

Both teams will play this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. with New Ulm Gold, the Second District Champion, taking on Waseca in Austin while Second District runners-up Sleepy Eye tangles with Bemidji at the Husdon VFW Field.

If Gold wins, they would play at 7 p.m. against the winner of the East Grand Forks/Hibbing game while a loss moves them to a 4:30 p.m match-up against the loser of that contest.

A win by Sleepy Eye also moves them to a 7 p.m. match-up against the winner of the Coon Rapids/Hastings game while a loss pits them an a 4:30 p.m. contest against that loser.

If both Gold and Sleepy Eye win their first two games, they would play Friday at 4:30 and 7 p.m. respectively in Rochester at Mayo Field.

JUNIOR LEGION PREPARES FOR STATE VFW TOURNAMENT: Baseball fans in New Ulm will have a lot of games to chose from this weekend. In addition to the New Ulm Legion Gold appearing in the State Legion Tournament, the New Ulm Junior Legion readies themselves for the State VFW Tournament beginning Friday in Mankato.

New Ulm enters with a 35-14-1 record as they meet Mankato White Friday morning at 11 a.m. at Wolverton Field (Mankato East High School.

A win means that they would play at 4 p.m. with a loss moves New Ulm to a 7 p.m. game. All gams will be at Wolverton Field.

New Ulm is very familiar with their first round opponent, having played them three times this year, twice in the last week.

"We are probably playing our best baseball of the year,"said coach LeRoy Flor who has seen his team win 13 of their last 15 games. "Our strength is our (team) speed and our hitting."

New Ulm enters with a .315 team batting average led by Blake Thorson's .393 average. Derik Johnson is second on the team with a .369 average followed by leadoff hitter Keith McClellan at .363 and Mitch Palmer with a .352 average. Nate Carroll is the fifth member of the team with a .300 batting average entering the tournament with a .341 average.

New Ulm's team speed has pushed them to 164 stolen bases led by Johnson who leads the team with 37 stolen bases. McClellan and Palmer both have 26 swipes.

Pitching-wise, righthanders Andy Kamm and Tyson Anderson both have 8-2 marks for the season.

"They are a very good team; we are 1-2 against them this year," said Flor. "We will match up well with them. We have not practiced much because of the heat but we will get in some (before Friday)."

Flor feels that his team "is looking forward to playing them again. They are a good team but they are not that good that they cannot be beaten by us."

New Ulm beat Mankato White in the semi-finals of the Junior Classic. "We hit the ball well that day and played good defense.. We need to get them back on their heels."

New Ulm has lost two straight games to Mankato but Flor feels that that will be an advantage to New Ulm in the fourth meeting. "Lots of times, it is hard to beat a team three times."

Flor plans to start Tyson Anderson against Mankato White.

NEW ULM, SLEEPY EYE MEET AGAIN: As former New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra once said, "It is deja vu all over again."

Last year in the Region 2C championship, the New Ulm Brewers beat Sleepy Eye for the crown. Those same two teams will meet again Sunday night at 7:30 at Johnson Park for the title.

Sleepy Eye holds two wins over New Ulm during the regular season. Both teams advance to the Minnesota State Class "C" Tournament. Both teams will play Saturday, August 18 in Miesville. The champion plays the Region 11C runner-up at 5 p.m. with the runner-up of Region 2C tangling with the champion of 11C. Last year, Region 11C was represented by Litchfield and Monticello.

SCHUGEL TO WALDORF: New Ulm Cathedral's Joey Schugel signed a National Letter of Intent Tuesday night to attend Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa. Schugel has been strongly recruited by Winona State University. He will probably play first base there.. The University of Minnesota has expressed an interest in Schugel depending on how he progresses at Waldorf.

GRUNST IN WISCONSIN: Former Nicollet resident Dan Grunst has two sons playing D-I basketball at Butler University in Indiana.

Ben is a 7-foot sophmore and Andy is a 6-foot 10 freshman for the 23rd ranked Bulldogs.

NACHREINER IN TEXAS: Matthew Nachreiner, who played baseball in New Ulm last summer, pitched the championship game for the Austin Slam Braves. The Austin, Texas team was in Steamboat Springs, Colo. competing for the Triple Crown Sports World Series 16 year-old championship.

On Sunday, July 29 the Braves beat a team from Denver, Colo. 10 to 0 to win the championship. Matthew pitched all 5-innings and gave up three hits while striking out nine. He was named the All American pitcher for the tournament that was played from July 26 through July 29,.

The Braves lost their first game to a team from Bloomington, Minn. but then won six straight to finish in first place. Matthew also batted 6 for 10 with three walks in the tournament. They clocked his fastball at 89 mph during the tournament.

Matthew was asked to pitch for the Austin Baseball Club at a tournament in Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 9 -12. For more information go to www.eastcobbbaseball.com and read about the teams competing in the tournament.