Middle weekend of Minnesota state amateur baseball tournament brings out the true fans

GAYLORD, MINN. – Hutchinson, Brownton and Gaylord had won the bid to be hosts for Minnesota’s state amateur baseball tournament before dramatic changes would take place twice in a three-year period.

This started for the 2023 season when Class A, previously for metropolitan area teams, was dissolved into Class B. Those metro teams and B’s that rated high in the state baseball board’s points system went into the playoffs to create a 32-team bracket.

That left Class C with a 48-team bracket. Attendance was solid with this two-class format in 2023 and record-breaking in 2024.

The state board, which has long followed the Politburo rules of order, decided another enormous shakeup was needed to start in 2025:

One problem created with this new system was that the town serving as the main host for Class A was going to have attendance issues. Generally, family and very close friends will be the audience for metro teams, and even those friends might hesitate to take the drive down Hwy. 212 to show support.

Which led to this: The Gaylord Baseball Association agreed to host Class A, based on the understanding with Brownton and Hutchinson that the three near-neighbors would split up the costs and proceeds at the end of the tournament.

There would also be the need for a few bucks headed to Glencoe, not an official host, but the fourth site required for the three-weekend tournament that runs through Labor Day.

The mighty Miesville Mudhens (2024 Class B champ) and the Waconia Lakers (2024 Class C champion). The Mudhens prevailed 5-0, and the paid attendance was over 700 — enormous by Class A standards.

On Saturday morning, with the Forest Lake Brewers taking on the St. Anthony Hogs, it was more like 150 in the stands. One benefit of this was that you could hear the hooting and hollering from the Brewers’ dugout.

The fun they were having in there included some gentle needling of teammates.

The Brewers were leading 2-0 in the sixth when catcher Joe Rydel was due to bat. With re-entry allowed, Gage Lund was sent to pinch-hit. He was jammed severely by Hogs pitcher Sully Jahnke, the bat cracked and the ball looped softly into very short left field for a base hit.

As Lund reached first and the ball made its way back to the mound, the cry came from the Brewers’ dugout: “You really got ahold of that one, buddy.”

An hour later, Forest Lake had survived a ninth-inning scare for a 3-1 victory.

There was a postgame chat with Rydel and third baseman Brandon Rogers, formerly Forest Lake High classmates. They have been joined in the Brewers’ tiny universe since they were 7-year-olds shagging foul balls in batting practice.

There was a reward for those duties: Adam Gallatin would fork over a $5 bill.

Gallatin is in his 29th year with the Brewers — first as a player, for two decades as the manager and organizer. The reward for Rogers and Rydel (and teammates) has been upgraded:

There is always a large cooler filled with beer.

“We always have a good time playing baseball, but this year, for some reason, there just has been more enthusiasm.

“There have been more people at our home games. We have 25 players on the roster, for those games when quite a few guys can’t be there, but we’ve had 20 with us more often than not. I don’t know why. Most of the same players, but it’s been different.”

On Saturday, Rogers had three hits and scored two runs. Isaac Roers, with eligibility remaining at Minnesota-Crookston, pitched six scoreless innings. Then, 30-year-old Davis Bryan took over.

“We played against D.B. for years,” Rydel said. “He beat us more than any other pitcher for six, seven years. We finally got him to join us.”

The Brewers had chances to expand the lead. Finally, with two outs in the ninth, Rydel was due up. He walked back toward the dugout.

“No, I looked down and had the wrong bat,” he said.

Rydel, with the frame of Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk, took that example further with an RBI single. That third run gave the Brewers some wiggle room in the bottom of the ninth, when Nick Zezulka led off with a home run and the next two Hogs reached base.

Bryan retired the following three hitters, and the Brewers were on to next Friday — against Miesville. That game is in Glencoe, although Walsh Field has left a lasting impression on Rydel.