Junior Legion takes next step

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Junior Legion opens play in the 2000 State VFW Tournament this morning at 11 a.m. when they tangle with Sauk Rapids at Sechler Field in Northfield.

New Ulm enters the tournament having defeated Mankato White twice in district play to qualify for the tournament, and sports an impressive 30-7 record and an equally impressive .319 batting average.

Head coach Ed Tietel is in his first season at the helm of the Junior Legion and is assisted by former head coach Jay Backer. Backer had not applied for the head coaching spot because he had accepted a position with the Jordan Police Department, but then later accepted a similar post with the New Ulm Police Department.

Tietel said that when he took over this team at the start of the season that he knew they were good.

"I knew that there was a lot of talent here," he said. "But with putting together kids from three different schools, there was a question of whether they could play like a team. But over the last three weekends, we have done that."

But that was not the case earlier in the season where Tietel said that it was a group of nine individuals rather than a team.

"We were not playing as a unit," he said. "It was nine or ten different guys on the field. It was not the New Ulm Junior Legion but it was so and so at first, so and so pitching.

"But then they realized that they had to play as a team in order to win and, again, we have done that."

Tietel said that the turnaround may have come in the St. Cloud Tournament when the played Duluth East. "We had a seven-run lead after two innings and ended up losing the game 10-7. It was a combination of different reasons where we surrendered the lead. Then when we played Hutchinson Blue later in the season, we did not play well. We talked about it after the game and that helped."

New Ulm used that playing as a team to come back through the loser's bracket in the district as they beat Mankato twice to cop the title and a state tournament berth.

"That (beating Mankato twice) was a big boost," he said. "But we said that if we play like we are capable of, there is no team in the district that we should lose to. After we beat Mankato the first game, there was no doubt in our minds that we would win."

Righthander Bobby Wellmann was the workhorse in that district tournament, pitching 21 innings, got three wins and won the district title. "He pretty much carried the team in the tournament."

Wellmann leads the team with an 8-1 record. In 60 1-3 innings, he has struck out 61, walked 17 and allowed 42 hits. Mitch Walters 6-1, followed by Dusty Fleck at 4-0 and Chris Cariveau at 4-3.

This season, New Ulm is led in hitting by Eric Austvold and Jace Marti, both who are hitting .411, with Tyler Janni hitting a robust .408. Dan Kitzberger is the leader in home runs with four. As a team, they are hitting .319.

"Jace has been a fixture in the number three spot (in the lineup) and Eric Austvold has been an excellent lead-off hitter for us," said Tietel. "Everyone has been doing their job."

New Ulm's first-round opponent, Sauk Rapids, is somewhat familiar to New Ulm as the Junior Legion defeated Sauk Rapids 12-6 earlier in the season. But Tietel said that the win has no bearing on this game.

"This is the state tournament, and they now have a few players who were on the Legion team who have dropped down to this team," he said. "But we are playing better baseball than we were then. Every team that is in the state deserves to be there so, while we have beaten them earlier we know that we have to keep playing like we have been lately.

"Basically, we need to have good pitching and have them use the defense," Tietel said when asked what they need to do to come away with the win. "We need to keep playing good, New Ulm-style baseball."

If the Junior Legion wins, they will play Worthington at 4:30 on Friday at Sechler Field. A loss in the first game moves them to a 7 p.m. meeting at Sechler Field with the loser of the Alexandria-Bemidji contest.

The state title game will be played Monday at noon in Dundas.