New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

A gusty and spirited comeback by Creighton Omaha overcame a 7-0 deficit and earned the third championship of the Upper Midwest Classic for the elite Amercian Legion baseball terms of the Midwest. The four-day tournament concluded Sunday in fabulous weather. Saturday a heavy downpour initiated a 1:20 rain delay but did not wash out any events.

Creighton mounted a six-run fourth inning to tie the game, then scored three in the fifth for it's 10-7 victory margin.
It turned the pitching over to lanky southpaw Charlie Krueger who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh but closed out Eastview in order in the seventh thanks to a 6-4-3 double play.

Joe Kankovsky, Ryan Enter, Krueger and Jeff McNichols all had two hits. Kankovsky had a triple while Krueger and McNichols had doubles. McNichols drove in two runs. Eastview got three hits from Ty Groskreutz plus two stoolen bases and an RBI. Joe Peters drove home a pair with a single and double in the first two innings. Pat O'Niel nailed two RBI's in the first inning when Eastview scored three times.

Creighton's six runs in the fourth came on four hits, an error, hit batsman, walk and wild pitch.

CREIGHTON, APPLE VALLEY EASTWOOD MEET FOR CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP
4 July 2009, 23:35

Creighton of Omaha and Eastview of Apple Valley meet Sunday at 3 p.m. for the championship of the Upper Midwest Classic for American Legion baseball teams from throughout the Midwest.

Creighton edged previously undefeated DePere, WI while Apple Valley polished off New Ulm 12-2 for a surprising 10-run rule victory. It was New Ulm's third straight defeat since losing to Apple Valley's other team in pool play and then dropping two more to tail-spin to a three-game losing streak. Gold has won 15 consecutive games. Pitching continued to falter and hitters garnered only six hits in a day when frustrations resulted in the ejection of a player and the coach of Gold late in the game after Gold had strung half of it hits during the game.
Eastview sluggers pounded out four doubles, a triple and five singles, two of them on bunts.

Creighton slammed three consecutive doubles in the first inning to ignite a four-run start in its game with DePere. Later a double by Jeff McNichols drove in the two runs Creighton used to break DePere's 6-5 lead in the fifth. DePere had batted around for five runs in the fourth with a double by Nick Pierre driving in two. The rally was fueled by two Creighton errors.

The line score summary appears with the attached game summaries in the location at the top of the page.

GOLD LOSES TWO, STILL MAKES SEMI-FINALS SUNDAY
3 July 2009

The bats went silent and the team had its first back-to-back losses of the season, but New Ulm Gold still has qualified for the semi-finals of the 2009 Upper Midwest Classic for Legion baseball teams. As the runner-up to DePere, WI (4-0), Gold will face Apple Valley Eastview (B Pool champion) at noon in the second semi-final game of the prestigious tournament. B runner-up Creighton will play DePere at 9 a.m. The championship game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

It started in New Ulm in 1980 as the Firecracker Invitational and took its present format in 1988 and now is a year away from its 30th anniversary. DePere has not won the tournament. Omaha Creighton has won it in 1999 and 2002. New Ulm Gold championed the Firecracker tournament four times and the Classic in 1995, 1997, and 2001. It is Eastview's first particiaption.

The tournament Saturday survived rain at the New Ulm sites where play was delayed for one hour and twenty minutes while the fields were dried out. Games continued at the Essig third site which was spared the heavy downpour.