State tournament gets under way today

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The 2000 Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament will begin today in Sleepy Eye and Fairfax with Class B taking center stage today and Friday as 16 teams vie to win the first state championship of the new millennium.

Dundas holds the crown from last year, but will be hard-pressed to repeat as champions. Dundas has a tough matchup in its first game at 5 p.m. today in Fairfax when they tangle with Hamel.

Other teams seeking a state title are Cold Spring, Shakopee, Duluth Express, Marshall, Rochester, Dassel-Cokato, Jordan, Ultimate Sports, Apple Valley, Red Wing, St. Michael and Bemidji, along with two area teams, the Mankato Twins and New Ulm Kaiserhoff. Class B is double-elimination.

Class C teams will star their quest for a champion Saturday at both sites. Thirty-two teams will cut down to the final two teams that will play for the state title, along with Class B on Sept. 4.

Class C has teams with familiar names in Sleepy Eye, the New Ulm Brewers, Fairfax and Arlington. Play will start this weekend and continue for the next two weekends in both Sleepy Eye and Fairfax.

7:30 P.M. FRIDAY, NEW ULM KAISERHOFF VS. BEMIDJI, SLEEPY EYE

The Bemidji Mudcats enter the tournament with a 27-10 record.

"This is our fourth straight trip to the state," said Mudcat manager Rob Bahr. "Our team's strength this season is our hitting with seven of our starting nine hitting over .400."

The top hitter for the 'Cats this season has been Gunner Geller, who comes in with a 506 batting average. Bahr also says his Bemidji team is, "the fastest team in the state. We have six guys who can steal a base, plus we have some good pitchers."

Bahr said his top pitcher, and the one that Kaiserhoff will have to face Friday, is right-hander Scott Seaton, who is 5-1. "He has been to the state tournament 12 years straight. We also have a young left-hander in Scott Fogelson. He is a high school pitcher who was to old for Legion ball.

"We have a young team with Seaton our oldest player (28). While they are young, they have the experience. Our entire infield is all-conference players from either the NSIC or elsewhere. Our catcher (Shawn Ross) was a freshman all-conference catcher. Our outfielders are the best that we have seen here in Bemidji. This is one of the better teams to ever come out of Bemidji."

Meanwhile, Kaiserhoff comes into the 2000 tournament with a 23-7 mark and the Section 4B title

"Usually, teams (in the Bemidji area) are good-hitting teams." said Kaiserhoff player-manager Tom Steinbach. "Normally, they are good hitters and not quite the pitching caliber that we have down here."

Steinbach said he will start left-hander Chris Rupert (11-0) against Bemidji. This season, Rupert has struck out 99 batters in 87 1-3 innings and has a 3.50 ERA.

The rest of the Kaiserhoff line-up will see Ryan Sauter, a draftee from Green Isle, catching with familiar faces of Brady Ranweiler at first, Brian Raabe at second, Ryan Ellwein at shortstop and Brad Keenan at third. In the outfield, Landon Rathmann will be in left, Josh Hinson in center and Steinbach in right.

While the Mudcats boast of their offense, Kaiserhoff has a lot of firepower. Brady Ranweiler leads the "K" with a .460 batting average and has belted a team-high 15 home runs. Steinbach and Landon Rathmann are tied for second with 11 home runs. As a team, Kaiserhoff is hitting .349 and smacked 62 home runs.

Steinbach said right-hander Jared Visker is "done for the season. He will have an MRI soon and see what needs to be done.

"Brad Keenan may see some mound time, but the way that the tournament is set up, we can ride one for a while.

New Ulm has another left-hander, Aaron Heitzman (7-5, 5.88 ERA). Kaiserhoff also has Ryan Sauter, who pitched at South Dakota State.

5 P.M. SATURDAY, FAIRFAX VS. DENT, FAIRFAX

The Cardinals (23-11) enter the tournament with their strength their starting pitching.

"This time of the year is fun and being at home, we are excited about playing," said Fairfax manager Gary Hess. "That is the main thing come playoff time, and right now, our hitting is coming around," Hess said. "The other asset is that we have gone errorless in the last five games."

Hess said he will tab either Troy Sunken or Joey Kurtz, a draftee from Bird Island, in the game. The Cardinals will send this lineup against Dent with Blair Folkens leading off, and Brian Jacobsen batting second.

In the third spot is Keith Buboltz with Jon Deming hitting fourth.

Batting fifth will be Paul Hess, who will DH. Third baseman Andy Nelson hits in the sixth spot.

Shortstop Zac Zeug bats seventh. Jason Jacobson catches and bats eighth. Number nine will be either Brian Heller or Mitch Nachreiner.

"We played in the state last year but did not play well." said Hess. "That was because we had a lot of guys who did not have that experience."

Dent makes its first state tournament appearance since 1981. "The last time that we were in the state tournament, Terry Steinbach was on the New Ulm roster," said Rambler manager Marv Hexum.

The Ramblers come into the tournament with an overall mark of 19-14.

"We really don't have a strength as such and it depends on who we play," he said.

Hexum will start right-hander Chris Stoll (12-3) when Dent meets Fairfax. Stoll was the MVP in the Country Side South league.

Dent features shortstop Keith Aune, who is batting .394, and Adam Riedel.

"Riedel can play a lot of positions for us," Hexum said. "We are really a balanced team. Riedel is a good lead-off hitter. We have some good speed and then we have some 'plows' on the team."

Hexum feels being inexperienced "may hurt us a little. But then they know little about us. We know that Fairfax is strong."

The Ramblers have been a come-back team all season. Hexum said his players feel good about being competitive with the rest of the field even though Dent usually only plays 10 men.

"We feel pretty good about being competitive," he said. "We picked up a player (Jason Brueske), who played in Canada and played with Deer Creek to get qualified. He is at (North Dakota State) and there have been some (pro) scouts looking at him."

5 P.M. SUNDAY, NEW ULM BREWERS VS. WOLF LAKE, SLEEPY EYE

The Wolfpack (17-6, Section 16C runners-up) will meet the Brewers.Wolfpack manager Howie Kangas, who is also the head football coach at Perham, said his team is changing.

"We have a good blend of youth and experience (players range from 19-40) and where it needs to be," said Kangas.

The Wolfpack's top player is Ryan Breitbach, who is hitting .441. The 22-year-old is the 'Packs' best player. "He is a decent pitcher."

The right-handed Breitbach will get the start against the Brewers.

Players hail from Detroit Lakes, Perham, Vergas, Ponsford, Park Rapids, Bemidji and Frazee.

"We are accustomed to being in the state tournament. It is just that right now, Perham has a great team. They 10-runned us twice," Kangas said.

"We will try and create some runs." he said. "We are not a big-inning team. We are nicked up right now. We just lost our starting third baseman with a broken arm and right now, we have 11 on the roster."

The Brewers (26-5, Region 2C champion) return to the Class C tournament after four straight years of being denied a berth. The Brewers enter with two players hitting over .400 in Chris Peters (.417) and Dan O'Brien (.400).

The Brewers have a strong pitcher in right-hander Jeremy Wieland (11-2, 2.57 ERA), who will start against the 'Pack.

"We are playing well right now," said fourth-year manager Bob Weber. "We hit a mini-slump during the season, but we have always been able to come back."

Six Brewers will carry a .300 or better batting average into the game with Scott Schaefer and Brad Weber both hitting better than .370. Troy Kamm, New Ulm's lead-off hitter, is tops with seven stolen bases and a .360 batting average.

"Our team has been consistent all season," commented Weber. "While we don't have that state tournament experience in amateur ball, our team has players who have had experience in state high school and legion tourneys and that will help."

7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, PERHAM VS SLEEPY EYE, SLEEPY EYE

Two perennial state tournament teams meet in the first round when the Pirates meet the indians.

Perham (20-5) comes in with a a "balanced attack," according to manager Bob Schepper, who has guided his team to four state trips in the last five years.

"Our best players seem to be different each game," Schepper said. "We are balanced and everyone that we put out there can do the job."

Chad Burkman leads Perham with a .476 batting average and has "done a good job. He hits the ball for power (24 home runs) and makes good contact," Schepper said.

"Our team is starting to play good," Schepper added, "(and) at one stretch down the season we were in a slump. Now we are hitting better as a team. Hopefully, that continues, but baseball is a funny game. You can hit one game ,but not the next."

Schepper is unsure of who he will start, listing Doug Musik, Shawn Ohman or Chad Griffin as possibles.

Indian manager Ralph Zwaschka knows Perham is a very veteran team. "We played Perham in the state tournament (in 1996) and lost to them 3-0 at Glencoe. Chad Griffin pitched well that game.

'They still have those names and they carry a good-hitting team. They are always been a good-hitting team and we know that they are tough."

Zwaschka will give the nod to right-hander Brian Hertling "When he mixes speeds, he can be very affective."

The Indians lost their last two games of the playoffs to the New Ulm Brewers and Springfield, but that does not concern the veteran manager.

"We were hitting a lot of 'at-them' balls," Zwaschka said. "We were making contact and our strikeouts were limited. The biggest thing that we have to do that we did not do (the last two games) is we have got to stay away from self-destructing with the errors."

The Indians will probably be without Kelly Krzmarzick, who had arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday. "There was a partial tear of a ligament. We don't know if he is going to be able to play on Sunday or not," Zwaschka said.

That takes a .333 batting average out of the line-up. Kyle Krzmarzick leads the Indians with a .453 batting average with seven other players hitting better than .300.

Sleepy Eye also drafted Springfield right-hander Jon Diede.

"When you look at the total number of hits that we have had in the last two games, we did not have a lot, but we hit the ball hard." Zwaschka said. "We have to play the type of baseball, and again this is old hat, that we have played all season."

Class C games are single elimination for the first two rounds while Class B is all double-elimination.