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2009 Preview Issue April 27, 2009 THE NORTH STAR LEAGUE SPECTATOR The 2009 Spectator 'This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.' Think about that for a while." 2009 Preview Issue The North Star League returns to a familiar alignment wi April 27, 2009 East and West and one “B” division, the Central. The ‘B’ teams section will now be comprised of the th two “C” divisions, Central division plus Plato, with Hamel out of the 5 teams from the 2 new fields will be in play for 2009 a permanent field for Rogers at the Rogers Sr. Higsection this year. a temporary one for Kingston on the Dassel-Cokato S h School and The 16 coaches were asked to predict the order r. High School field. of finish for the upcoming 2009 season. Listed below are their predictions. 2009 Hall of Famers Jerry Ruppelius, Loretto The EAST Jerry played baseball for 15 years, mainly at third base. Jerry batted over .300 most of his 1) Loretto - picked to pass MP this year by a narr career. Jerry was an excellent fielder who 2) Maple Plain - question seems to be health of st ow margin. never let any ground balls go through the 3) Elk River - picked third, can score runs. aff. left side of the infield. Jerry was a great 4) Mound - edged out the Villains for fourth. clutch hitter but more importantly was a great team leader. 5) Albertville - playoff run in ’08 sparks hope to 6) Rogers - Needs to prove they can win more to es finish higher. Dave Burns, Dassel-Cokato Dave played baseball for 18 years, 9 years cape cellar. with the D-C Saints. Dave was the premier The WEST left handed pitcher of the league during his 9 1) Howard Lake - the overwhelming choice to win the years with the Saints winning 85 games. Dave was a big game pitcher winning over 2) Buffalo - a clear second choice in the West. title. 90% of the playoff games he pitched. 3) Kingston - picked to barely beat Monti, Rockfor Gary Porter, Maple Lake 4) Monticello - 3rd, 4th or 5th on every coach’s l d for third. Gary played baseball for 37 years. Gary re- 5) Rockford - 8-10 in ‘07 & ‘08, may be better tha started Maple Lake baseball in 1975 and was ist. their playing managing for 29 years. Gary n last in West. also helped bring two state tournaments to The CENTRAL Maple Lake in 1984 and 1997. Gary was 1) St. Michael - the unanimous choice to claim the very dedicated to amateur baseball and a good team leader. 2) D-C - Some key players are gone, but good ones 3) Hutchinson - can they replace the pitching los division. Mike Mitchell, Howard Lake Mike played centerfield for the Orphans for 4) Maple Lake - lost middle of order, can they ov remain. t from ‘08? 8 years before his job career took him out of 5) Delano - young, improving club in a tough divis ercome that? the area. When Mike retired from his job, he severed as president of Orphans baseball ion. doing every job that needed to be done. The When you don't give the other team any runs, beauty of the Howard Lake's ball park is a that is a shortcut to victory direct result of Mike's hard work. P A G E 2 T H E 2009 S PECTATOR ST. Michael The CENTRAL 2008 Record 13-3 The Saints are the consensus pick to win the Central division because they are the Life is like a baseball game. only team that returns every key player from 2008 When you think a fastball is coming, and they had the best record among the B teams last You gotta be ready to hit the curve. year. The Saints will again rely on Adam McGrane to be their ace on the mound and a potent starting line up that had no trouble scoring runs last year. They may lack some depth and thus need to stay healthy, Maple Lake but they are expecting more from Blane Barthel and 2008 Record 10-6 Dane Carlson, both of whom now have a year of col- The Lakers will have a new look this year, lege ball under their belt. Mike Barthel returns after having lost the 3, 4 and 5 hitters from their line-up. about 6 years away. Look for the Saints to be the They anticipate making up for that production with team to beat and they hope to improve on their fourth speed and defense. A lot of arms are available, but no place finish at State. set number 1 and relying on younger players leaves the Lakers with questions to answer. New players are Delano Graham Bron, Bert Marsnik, Casey Pack and Jeremy Schmidt. Returning to the Lakers this year are Chad 2008 Record 5-11 Raiche, Nate Johnson, Cody Decker, Marcus Zahn, The A’s came alive the second half of last year Tony Smith, Eric Wurm, Tyler, Darin & Riley and made a nice run in the playoffs. Pitching is expected to be the strength of the team in 2009 with Jeff Decker, Bob Fobbe and Ben Jungers. Janzen and lefty Blake Danielson healthy plus returning hurlers Brent Muckenhirn, Joe Nielsen and Jeff Althoff. Returning players Derek Falde, Muckenhirn, Kevin and Adam Jaunich, Mark Peterson, Andy Brown, Aaron Swenson and Tony Greibel will be counted on to lead the attack and provide steady defense. Eric Sandberg, Ryan Hayes and Perry Ditty are expected to make a larger contri- bution to the effort this year. The key to whether the A’s win more games depends on their ability to improve their clutch hitting and score more runs. DasSel-Cokato 2008 Record 9-7 The Saints will return key players like Matt Bergstrom, Brent Opsahl, Dan Birkholz, Eric Hanson and John Danielson. They also lose a few key players from last year and will attempt to fit younger players and past bench players into those spots. D-C adds pitcher Perry Hutchinson Thineson to their roster and should again be strong on 2008 Record 12-4 the mound. If the new players produce at the plate and Only two of the Huskies top five pitchers re- find ways to score runs, the Saints should remain in turn, Adam Padrnos and Cory Ryks. Finding contention for the Central title. pitchers who provide quality innings on the mound be- comes the main priority for Hutch if they want to return to State this year. Offense should be no problem with Justin Things could be worse. Juergenson, Brooks Albrecht, Luke Klitzke and Jordan Suppose your errors were counted Schwarze still in the line up. Contributions are also ex- and published every day, pected from Jarod Zelm and Josh Wendland and new play- like those of a baseball player. ers this year include Kevin Kuhl, Adam Katzenmeyer and Kyle Becker. P A G E 3 2009 P R E V I E W I S S U E The EAST LORETTO 2008 Record 11-7 MAPLE PLAIN The Larks return everyone from last year and 2008 Record 12-6 have a good mix of veteran and young players. For the Diamond Devils to capture the East Eric Schuette, Brandon Scanlon and Tom Traen bring this year, they will need to find healthy arms that give years of consistent production to the field. Continued de- them plenty of innings. If Pat McPherson, Adam Gregg velopment from younger players Joey Althoff, Kent Koch, and Paul Kunz overcome arm problems, they should be Nate Triplett and Nathan Maher should make Loretto in good shape. If not, then they will need to rely on the tough in 2009. Pitchers Nick Koch, Mark Ritchie and hitting of Andrew Pratt, Andrew Engebretson, Brad Todd Roth anchor a strong mound staff. No roster Mazer, Lee and Adam Gregg, KC Johnson and Ryan Dwyer to produce enough runs to win games. Jake changes, good pitching, consistent run production and Smith should get more time on the mound this year and solid defense make the Larks the favorite in the East. Tommy Fisk from the Orono HS team should get some playing time this year. Trying to hit a knuckleball is like trying to eat Jell-O with Mound 2008 Record 6-12 chopsticks The Mallards rely on Peter Harrell, Peter Sycks and Andy Snyder to keep their of- fense productive. If the bottom of the order can Elk river 2008 Record 8-8 continue to come through more consistently as they The Pioneers count on 6 core players for did late last year, Mound may move up to the .500 success - Dan Ebner, Jason Rusch, Andy level. Also key to their success is receiving full Sauk, Bob Tokar, Pat McCarthy and Tony Jarmoluk. Add seasons from their pitching staff of Mike Mitchell, in three players expected to contribute in Kyle Barntree, Chris Harrell, Andy Keding and Nick Rettke. Con- Ross Orrock and Brandon Ostien and 2 new players, Jared tinued improvement from players like Joe Wood Orrock and Alex Halverson and Elk River expects to be and contributions from newcomers Ben Brewster one of the surprise teams in the league. The key to win- on the hill and Nate Palm in the field would benefit the Mallards cause greatly. ning more games will depend on their depth on the mound. The Pioneers proved they could score runs last year and all they need is reliable starting A baseball game is twice as much fun if pitching to compete for the East title.
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