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

The Searles Bullheads advanced all the way to the championship game of the MN Senior Men's Amateur Baseball Association Class AA 35 and over state tournament before losing to the St. Peter Saints (#1 seed) Sunday. The 'Heads had been seeded sixth. .

In that championship game played Saturday evening in Jordan, the Bullheads jumped out of the gates with a lead off double by Troy Kamm and after an out and a walk, Kamm scored the first run on a fielder's choice by Scott Schaefer. With two outs Matt Kuster doubled to the right field fence to drive in two more runs in what would have given the Bullheads a quick 3-0 lead, and a chance to score more. However, on an appeal to the umpire that the runner missed third base called the runner out out and the last two runs were taken off the scoreboard .

Searles did not score again until the fifth when John Giefer stroked a two run double. The fourth Bullhead run scored in the seventh on an RBI single by Bruce Jacobs.

Meanwhile the Saints' bats were lighting up the scoreboard at the Jordan "mini-met" as they built a 9-1 lead after four innings. The five Searles pitchers gave up 20 runs while striking out two St. Peter batters. John Landkamer got the win for St. Peter.

Searles had advanced to the championship game by defeating the Manahga-Sebeka Relics 15-6 in the semi-final game played Friday evening in Shakopee. The Bullheads held a one run lead going into the bottom of the sixth, before spawning eight runs in another late inning rally.

Leading the 13-hit attack were Corey Schaefer and Brian Sieve with three hits apiece. Matt Kuster was two for two, along with two walks and three RBI's.

Scott Rummel picked up his fourth win of the season and second in the state tournament for Searles. Rummel, together with reliever Kevin Hulke, recorded seven strike outs, while giving up two walks and two hit batsmen.

The semi-final win allowed the Bullheads to play in the Class AA championship game for the seventh time in the past nine years of tournament play. The Bullheads won four of those championship games. This was the first tournament championship appearance by the Bullheads without Terry Steinbach, former Oakland Athletic and Twins catcher, and now bench coach for the Twins.

Searles started the season with a 1-5 record, which coincidentally included a 7-6 victory over St. Peter in a game played on June 5. After that slow start, the Bullheads rebounded and went on a 13 game winning streak to end with a very respectable 14-6 overall record.

The Bullheads thank the Searles Baseball Association and all of the fans for their support this past season.