ON TO REGIONS
Tigers at Minnesota Lake Tonight

--By Brett Kruschke

Belle Plaine's El Tigro qualified for Region 4C play upon defeating the #1 seeded Le Sueur Braves 5-4 on the road Wednesday night. The Braves avenged that loss with a 2-1 victory at Belle Plaine on Saturday in the Carver Central League - Red Championship. (This came on the heels of Tigertown defeating Waconia last Monday night by an 8-3 count.) See the CCL-Red playoff bracket for all results.

As a majority of the Tigers have let their facial hair grow for the playoffs, this band of truants will bid to become the ugliest team ever to qualify for the State Tournament. The journey continues tonight at the #2 seed of the 13-60 League, Minnesota Lake, who plays their home games at Bud Kroenke Field. I'm not sure who Bud Kroenke is, but I think he used to do weather for WCCO-TV. Anyways, Minnesota Lake is about 25 miles south of Mankato. The only fan bus being planned is Doug and Pandy Anderson's family truckster, which comfortably seats five. Call early for a ride.

The scenarios are many, so please see the Region 4C bracket. Any games that do not indicate a home team, will go first to the team that has had the least home games; if each team has hosted an equal number of games, the seedings were determined by a drawing to decide home field and are: 1. Winthrop (CCL White #1), 2. Blue Earth (13-60 #1), 3. Le Sueur (CCL Red #1), 4. Minnesota Lake (13-60 #2), 5. Gaylord (CCL White #2), 6. Belle Plaine (CCL Red #2). The top two teams from the Region will advance to the Class 'C' State Tournament to be held at Dundas and Northfield, beginning Thursday, August 14th. Come out and support our scraggly-faced boys whose beards would make Rick Aguilera blush.

BP 5 @ Le Sueur 4 (Wednesday, July 23rd, CCL Red playoffs)
This was it-the type of game you wait the whole year for. Belle Plaine had their #1 chucker Dan Huber in line, and Le Sueur answered with righty Mike Fritz, who four-hit the Tigers June 29th in a 3-1 Braves victory.

However, it might as well have been Ralph John Fritz as he gave up as many hits in the first inning as that entire previous game, with three Tiger runs to boot. Tim Huber singled in brother Dan, and Pat "RJ" Moriarty jeremied a two-out, two-run double in clutch fashion. The Tiger Train fired up right away in the second as Jeff "the Cheetah" Witt scored his first triple since heading straight from home to third in a t-ball game in 1985. Dan Huber delivered a sac fly one out later to make it 4-0 Tigers.

The Braves stormed back in the third as the 7-8-9 hitters began with a single / double / single, sending eight men to the plate before the inning was done. Three runs came in, and Huber wriggled out of a first and third, one-out situation to keep it at that.

After Dan Weldon reached via fielder's choice in the fourth, the triple-happy Tigers did so again, this time courtesy of Dan Huber, scoring a winded Weldon good for a 5-3 edge. When Tim Huber doubled in the fifth, it was BP's ninth safety of the game, and they were on Fritz like stink on a pig. But the talented baller proceeded to find his groove and retire the final 14 men of the game, with nary another Tiger reaching. That's baseball for you.

Meanwhile, Danny Huber stuck his finger in the dam several times, but was touched for a fourth run in the Le Sueur seventh. After a walk to Lon Milless in the eighth, Dan Milam pinch ran but was gunned down by Pat "Robo Catcher" Schultz. "You will not run on me-I am Pat Schultz, catcher from the future!" As is his trademark, Huber finished strong and set the final four down in order, including strikeouts of the final two. A reception for the team in the high school gym and fire trucks upon the boys' return to town… was not held.

Le Sueur 2 @ BP 1 (Saturday, July 26th, CCL Red Championship)
Le Sueur entered this championship affair having scored 15 consecutive runs at the hands of the upstart Carver Black Sox, who had taken a 4-0 lead in the previous elimination game only to lose 15-4. John Schaffler was expected to start until it was discovered that he injured the pointy finger on his pitching hand at work earlier in the week. Darron Culbert, whom the Tigers torched for 10 hits and five runs in 5.2 innings on July 13th, instead received the nod.

Playing for the rights to potential Waconia draftee pitcher Rob Wagener and a Region-opening home game, the Tigers went full-guns-a-blazin' with starter Shane Hofmann. It's been a tale of two halves for Hofmann, who labored early but has been lights out the last half of the season. (Note to Tiger fans: it was determined just a few years ago that the winner of this game would be the #1 seed into the Region, despite the fact it could be the undefeated team's first loss. The primary idea is to save pitching arms.)

El Berbericho opened the scoring in the second when Lon Milless bled a two-out single to score catcher Nate Olson. Belle Plaine answered in the bottom half of the inning in interesting fashion, when with Pat Schultz at third and Jeff "Rickey Henderson Lite" Miller at first, Miller took off for second. Nine Le Sueur gasps later, the ball bounded into centerfield, allowing Schultz to score and tie matters at one.

Mike Koller singled with one out in the sixth and scored on a bases-loaded walk from Hofmann, who appeared to hit the wall in the sixth. However, he worked out of further trouble to keep matters at bay. After facing two more men in the seventh, Hofmann turned it over to reliever Mike Murphy, who was razor sharp for the second appearance in a row. Murphy went three innings and the only man to reach was his first batter, via fielder's choice.

Team Tigertown had several opportunities in the latter half of the game, but couldn't get that one clutch hit to bail them out. BP's golden opportunity came in the eighth, when Tim Huber slugged a leadoff double. Then out of the pen came the amazing Schaffler, willing to give it a whirl with a deep cut on the forefinger of his pitching hand. Schaffler walked Pat Schultz on five pitches, and appeared to be struggling. Pat Moriarty was allowed to take a strike before being given the bunt sign, but then failed to get it down. As fate would have it Moriarty bounced into a double play, with Tim Huber taking third. Miller was induced to ground out to second as well, and the threat was averted.

In the ninth, Schaffler blew the Tigers away as he struck out the side. After pondering the 2-1 loss, a late-night optional practice was called, and was surprisingly well attended. Cutoff men were not highly regarded.

This page was created and maintained by Nick Kornder, Sports Information Director at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. The views and ideas on this page are that of the author, and not those of the University of Minnesota.