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

By Jim Bastian, Sports Writer
Articles Posted New Ulm Journal 7-1-2012

NEW ULM - Wayzata defeated New Ulm VFW Gold 3-1 Sunday to take the championship of the Junior Upper Midwest Classic at Johnson Park.

New Ulm VFW Gold pitcher Chase Meyer took the pitching loss.

Wayzata scored two runs in the first two innings. Connor Trygstad laced an RBI triple in the first inning and then later scored on a passed ball. Trygstad also got the pitching win for Wayzata. He allowed three New Ulm hits and struck out two.

Meyer permitted four hits and struck out seven.

Will Beeninga led Wayzata with two hits. Trygstad and Joe Silbaugh each had a triple.

Meyer, Brach Kraus and Jackson Yackley had hits for New Ulm.

"Wayzata is a very good team," said New Ulm coach David Schoen. "They have a lot of good hitters in their line-up. We had our chances offensively as well. We are a team that likes to put men in motion when we get them on base - bunt, steal and hit-and-run. But we did not have much of an opportunity to do that today."

Wayzata took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with two runs after two were out.

Jack Sorenson drew a walk off Meyer before Trygstad drove a triple to right field to score Sorenson. Trygstad then scored on that passed ball.

"Chase left a fastball right down the middle of the plate belt-high," said Schoen about the pitch to Trygstad. "And at this level he did what you are supposed to do with those pitches. Then we had the yips on that passed ball."

VFW Gold mounted a minor threat in the top of the third when Jarin Spence scored on an error to start the inning. A wild pitch put Spence at second before Wyatt Peterson's bunt moved him to third.

But Trygstad retired Judd Davis on a line drive to second to end the inning.

New Ulm sliced the lead to 2-1 in the next inning.

Meyer stroked a one-out single, and Grant Kannegiesser was safe on an error to place runners on first and second with one out.

Meyer came home on a fielder's choice, but Trygstad got Spence to ground out to first.

Wayzata collected its other two hits in the fourth inning when Will Beeninga led off with a single and raced home on a triple to right field by Joe Silbaugh.

New Ulm mounted another scoring threat in the sixth inning by putting two runners on base with two outs. But Trygstad ended the inning by getting Tanner Kluis on a pop-out.

Schoen praised Meyer's efforts on the mound.

"He pitched very well," Schoen said. "I did not plan on letting him go that long, but he kept telling me he was feeling good. And they were really not doing anything to him. He only allowed four hits - he did a fantastic job."

New Ulm advanced to the title game with a 5-1 win over Hutchinson. Kluis got the pitching win. In 5 1/3 innings, he allowed four hits.

Grant Kannegiesser led New Ulm with three hits. Spence and Collin Helget each collected two hits.

Yackley had a triple for New Ulm.

By Jim Bastian, Journal Sports Writer. Posted New Ulm Journal Juen 30, 2012

NEW ULM - It is an unwritten rule in baseball that when a pitcher has a hitter down 0-2 in the count, his next offering should be nowhere near the strike zone.

On Friday night Delano's Jeremy Maschino tried to sneak an 0-2 fastball past New Ulm VFW Gold's Jarin Spence in the fifth inning. The No. 7 hitter in Gold's line-up made him pay.

Spence drove a Maschino fastball to deep center field for a two-run triple that sparked a three-run inning as Gold topped Delano 12-1 in Junior Upper Midwest Classic action at Johnson Park.

The game was stopped after six innings because of the 10-run lead rule.

Chase Meyer got the win for New Ulm, which improved to 12-2 on the season and 2-0 in the JUMC. He went five innings and allowed one run on three hits. He struck out five.

Maschino took the loss for Delano (5-6-1 on the year and 1-1 in the JUMC). He lasted six innings and allowed seven runs.

Jackson Yackley had two hits for New Ulm. Yackley, Meyer and Spence each drove in two runs.

New Ulm VFW Gold held a slim 3-1 lead over Delano going into the top of the fifth thanks to RBI singles from Connor Forbrook and Grant Kannegiesser and a base hit from Yackley.

Gold then got some breaks in the form of three errors in the fifth inning and that ill-advised pitch.

Brach Kraus reached on an error by Delano second baseman James Otto. Kraus then took second on an interference call on first baseman Austin Koehler. A Meyer sacrifice bunt moved Kraus to third and he scored on a throwing error by catcher Nate Meyers.

After two were out, Maschino walked both Yackley and Tanner Kluis before he worked Spence into an 0-2 hole and made a mistake.

"He (Spence) is a big boy to leave a pitch over the plate to," New Ulm coach Dave Schoen said. "He had been struggling the last couple of games, but any time he can square on up like that it gets everyone fired up."

And that it did.

After Spence's two-run triple, New Ulm's offense seemed to get jump-started. Gold followed with a six-run sixth inning and turned a close game into a rout.

"That triple kind of loosened everybody up," commented Schoen. "We were fighting it a little bit - (Maschino) was mixing up his pitches pretty well. We were not comfortable with the strike zone. We did not have comfortable at-bats."

New Ulm did get comfortable in the sixth. Wyatt Peterson led off the inning with a single, stole second and scored on a three-base error by Maschino - one of five errors in the last two innings by Delano, which ended up with seven errors in the game.

Otto replaced Maschino and walked Kraus. Meyer's two-run single upped the lead to 9-1. Yackley's single plated Meyer for a 10-1 lead.

Kluis followed with a hard single off of Otto's leg that forced him to leave the game.

Koehler replaced Otto and plunked Alex Stark to load the bases before Yackley and Kluis scored on the second error of the inning.

"Spence's hit did jump-start us," Schoen said. "And we did put the ball in play, and when you do that good things can happen. Up and down this line-up we are not slow."

New Ulm will play twice today with games against Luverne at 1 p.m. and Fairmont at 7:30 p.m., with both games to be played at Johnson Park.

"These are high school rivalry games, so we will be ready for both of them," Schoen said.

6-28-2012 - VFW Gold Takes Mankato in First Round

By Jim Bastian, Journal Sports Writer. Posted New Ulm Journal website.

New Ulm VFW Gold head coach Dave Schoen said prior to his team's game with Mankato in the first round of the Junior Upper Midwest Classic that he wanted his players to come out early and establish some dominance.

They did just that.

New Ulm scored six runs in the bottom of the first and used that as a springboard for an 8-2 win over Mankato Thursday night.

Tanner Kluis got the win for Gold, which is now 11-2 on the season. The right-hander went four innings and scattered four hits while striking out five and allowing no runs. Collin Helget tossed the final three innings, striking out five and allowing two runs - both unearned.

Devin Ries took the loss for Mankato. He allowed all eight runs in six innings.

Judd Davis led New Ulm with three hits - including two doubles - and drove in two runs. Chase Meyer and Grant Kannegiesser each had two hits, with Kannegiesser driving in three runs.

"We came out of the gates swinging," Schoen said. "I told the boys that I wanted them to kick the doors (early) and that is exactly what we did. That is our motto every game that we play - we want to establish that dominance right away."

New Ulm sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. Judd Davis - who had two hits in the inning - doubled to get things started. Davis scored when Brach Kraus' bunt was thrown down the first base line by Ries. Chase Meyer singled before Kannegiesser tripled in two runs. Jackson Yackley followed with an RBI single. Jarin Spence walked before a Tyler Dittrich sacrifice bunt - the first out of the inning - moved both runners up.

An Alex Stark single made it 5-0 before an RBI single by Davis upped the lead to 6-0.

Gold added one run in the second when Meyer led off with a double, took third on a wild pitch and then scored on a Kannegiesser single.

"We got that snowball going right away," Schoen said. "We did slow up a little bit."

But the damage had been done, especially with the way Kluis was performing.

The only real threat that Mankato mounted came in the fourth inning when Adrian Anderson and Mark Korteum singled with two outs. But Kluis fanned Tyler Substad to end the threat, which also ended his night on the mound.

"We had Tanner on a 60 pitch count tonight," Schoen said." I told him that I wanted him to come out and set the tone for the tournament. We had him on that pitch count because we plan on playing Sunday (for the championship) and I want him to be able to come back."

Schoen said that he was not worried about the offensive drop-off from his team after the first two innings, with his team managing just two hits after that.

"I think that Ries started to hit his spots more as the game went along," Schoen said. "He stopped leaving pitches over the plate - he was hitting his corners."

Mankato scored two unearned runs off of Helget in the sixth on a Josh Cook double, an error and two groundouts.

Gold added a final run in the sixth when Wyatt Peterson doubled and eventually scored on Davis' second double of the game.