by Dennis Dalman
Once again, for the 11th consecutive time, the Sartell Muskies baseball team will compete for the Class C State Championship.
So far this season, the Muskies won 17 of 25 games.
During the past two weekends, the Muskies won three of four games during the regional playoffs in Eden Valley, which placed them among championship competitors. In the last of those games, a 13-6 win over the Cold Spring Rockies, ace pitcher Adam Wenker pitched his 100th winning game. Wenker has been a member of the team since 2009.
The other teams the Muskies defeated in the Eden Valley regional playoffs were the Pearl Lake Lakers (10-2) and the Becker Bandits (8-2). The Muskies lost to the Monticello Polecats (9-3). Their first game in the championship competition will be against the Urbank Bombers Saturday, Aug. 20 starting at 11 a.m. in Faribault’s Bell Field.
The Sartell Muskies are members of the Lakewood League. There are 16 amateur baseball regions in Minnesota. Thirty-two teams will compete for the state championship in the first weekend of playoffs. The weekend games will continue through the rest of August and right up until the decisive game on Labor Day, Sept. 5.
The championship playoffs will be held on weekends right up to Labor Day when the championship game will take place. The fields where the Class C games are scheduled are Faribault’s Bell Field and Dundas’s Memorial Park.
Since the Sartell Muskies team was formed in 1979, it has competed in the state championship playoffs 18 times, including in the team’s first two seasons. The Muskies won the championship twice – in 1992 and 2013.
Among the teams defeated by the Muskies this season were the St. Augusta Gussies, the Rogers Red Devils, the Clear Lake Lakers, the Albertville Villains, the Pearl Lake Lakers, the Sartell Stone Poneys and the Clearwater River Cats.
The Sartell Muskies team members are (in alphabetical order) Riley Ahrndt, Randy Beckstrom, Braydon Blonigen, Tim Burns, Ethan Carlson, David Deminsky, Andrew Deters, Braeden Dyhuizen, Jake Gruebele, Blake Haus, CJ Hemmesch, Austin Henrichs, Wes Johnson, Jake Lund, Grant Mackenthun, Jacob Merrill, Calen O’Connell, Dan O’Connell, Cody Partch, Adam Schellinger, Brian Schellinger, Dave Schlangen, John Schumer, Dylan Simones. Travis Weaver and Adam Wenker.
The team’s manager/coach is Randy Beckstrom; its assistant coach is Booner Lewellyn.
Sartell Muskies’ Adam Wenker pitches a winning game in Eden Valley. It was Wenker’s 100th winning game. In Eden Valley, the Muskies won three of four games, placing them in the playoffs for the Class C State Baseball Championship.
