Seasons end on sour note for Brewers, Indians

NEW ULM -- Record-wise, it was a successful season for the New Ulm Brewers as they compiled 23 wins, an American Division title along with a Section 2C crown.

But their first round loss in the Class C State Amateur Baseball tournament, a 7-4 loss to Montgomery -- their second straight year of being eliminated in the first round of the state tournament -- put a damper on an otherwise successful season.

"I am disappointed that we are not playing anymore," said Brewers manager Chris Peters just over a day after their loss to the Mallards. "We had hoped that we would still be playing (this upcoming) weekend yet. The loss hurts a lot."

Peters said that Montgomery "came right out and scored two runs (in the first inning) off a home run. And we have not been used to being scored on first, which kind of changed momentum in the game and then they added two more runs (in the third inning)."

Some may have thought that the Brewers would start Jeremy Wieland in the first game.

"We had thought about starting (Wieland) but we decided to start Ryan Walters and use Wieland in relief," Peters said. Our plan was to use Walters for the first two weekends, but that didn't happen."

New Ulm had also entered the state tournament carrying a two-game losing streak from the Section 2C playoffs, having clinched the top seed early in the double round-robin tournament.

"But I don't think those (two) losses carried over -- we had some errors in one of the losses (to Stark) and they took advantage of them," Peters said. "And in the game against Essig, they came out and had 17 hits against us. They hit our pitchers (Wieland and Dayton Larson of Hanska) pretty hard."

But any team getting any sort of offense against the Brewers' pitchers was something that -- during the regular season -- was not happening as Brewer pitchers carried an ERA of less than 1.00 a game.

"I was not surprised that they got hit. I think that is was a matter of hitters finally getting used to the wood bat," Peters said. "They have also seen the pitchers for a few games and got to know what they would throw in certain situations and they keyed in on that."

Peters was surprised that Montgomery totaled 16 hits.

"We definitely were not expecting those (16) hits," Peters said. "We were expecting to come out and stay with them and get as many hits. But that did not happen."

The loss is twice as sour when you consider that last year the Brewers lost to Litchfield in the first round of the Class "C" tournament.

"When you get to the tournament, you see every team's horses -- their best pitcher," Peters said. "The guy that we saw (against Montgomery) was throwing pretty hard and hitting his spots. He kept us off-balance. And the loss was hard -- this was probably one of our better years that we had for players. We wanted to come out and do something this year in the state tournament."

But he said that the pitching was above what they had seen.

"The pitching in our league overall was not comparable to what we saw in the state," Peters said. "It is a totally different thing in the state when you face quality pitchers who are still pitching in college. And they throw hard."

"I really enjoyed having the players that we did. We played some good baseball and for most part of the year -- we were untouchable. I just want to thank the guys for all their work this year.

"I thought that the wood bats were OK, but you don't get to see the home runs.I think that a lot of our guys would like to have the aluminum bat back. We would have put up a lot of runs."

Peters also wanted to thank the New Ulm Baseball Association for all that they do and to the fans. "I hope that they all come back to see us next year.

You have to wonder who will return next year for the Brewers. Veteran centerfielder Brad Weber lives in Monticello and drove back and forth for games as did pitcher Jeremy Wieland who lives in the Metro area. You hope they come back for another year.

INDIANS NOT GET KEY HITS: Sleepy Eye Indian manager Ralph Zwaschka, who has been a big part of Sleepy Eye baseball for 30 years, said that his team "got hits -- we had 15 hits -- but we could not get that key hit" as Sleepy Eye fell 6-5 to Londsale in the Class "C" tournament.

Zwaschka said that a turning point in the game may well have come in the fifth inning when his team loaded the bases "and we only got one run out of it. They got out of the inning on a close double play with Cole Deibele at the plate. And we had other chances to score -- the hitters had been giving us RBI throughout the year. But we ran into some good -- not great -- pitching. They played good defense but we could not capitalize on their errors (two) and our errors (three), they took advantage of. It is just a matter of fortune as to who was going to take advantage of the opportunities. We had more opportunities than they did but we did not take advantage."

Zwaschka retouched that fifth inning as a big momentum swing in the game.

"Having a good hitter up there like Cole (Deibele) -- he is a money hitter -- and he hit a ball that I thought that he beat the throw to first on. That was a real key umpires' call in that situation."

The Indians also had a chance in the ninth inning when Brian Hertling homered with one out. Sleepy Eye then gets a runner on base before the second out before seeing their season end on a fly ball out.

"We were limited as far as options in that ninth inning," Zwaschka said. "But this team battled back all season. If there is one thing that I can look back on it is that throughout the course of the year, with all of the different types of adversity that we as a team dealt with, It was a good year."

"We had good, quality players who battled back," Zwaschka said. We were 1-3 in the regions and came back to win three big ballgames. They are a bunch of people who don't give up."

"We finished the season 21-14 -- we played 35 games this year --and for a lot of these guys it seemed like forever. But is still hard to stay focused and just play baseball with all the recreational and family things going on."

Zwaschka said the wood bat has become what some people would say "a smart investment. You can go out and buy a $40 wood bat. What is the real cost of that bat to the retailer who is selling it? We had great luck and we will continue to use the 'Tough Bat' that is made in Brooten. Simply, it is because it is close (to Sleepy Eye). They run $60 a bat. It is a hard maple. We bought bomb bats a lot of guys used then but in the end, a lot like the 'Tough Bat.'"

He also said that three players who were key members of last year's team - Brooks Deibele, "Bear" Havemeier and Bob Schmid -- did not play this year for the Indians. "Each played about 95 percent of (last year's ) games. But that is part of attrition."

You know that come next year's playoffs, both the Brewers and Sleepy Eye will be key factors in post-season play.

KEENAN AT CHASKA: Former New Ulm Kaiserhoff pitcher Brad Keenan took the loss in Chaska's 5-3 loss to Apple Valley in the Class B state tournament. Keenan allowed four runs and 13 hits while striking out four in nine innings of work.