Past Seasons
Subscribe to our Newsletter2023
Overall Record: 14-13 Home: 3-3 Away: 4-5 Neutral: 7-5
The 2023 Challenger Baseball season had no shortage of exciting moments, as the team faced moments of highs and lows. After reaching the semi-finals in the Challenger Classic, West Saint Paul went 2-0 in the BOLD Mudhen Invitational before getting rained out in the championship game. Challenger went on a stretch of 7 wins over 8 games during the middle of the season, before dropping 6 of 7 games to finish the regular season. However, #4-seeded West Saint Paul kicked off the sub-state tournament with wins over #5 Eagan and #1 Lakeville South, before falling to #3 Hastings. WSP stayed alive with comeback victories over Lakeville South and Hastings, before losing again to Hastings in the sub-state championship game.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS & STATS
- 8 players finished with .300+ batting average (Christiansen, Cubillan, Gray, Becker, Bruns, Watson, Happe, Dahl)
- 2 different players had homeruns (Cubillan, Watson)
- 4 pitchers finished with ERA below 4.00 (Gray, Groppoli, O'Keefe, Becker)
- Team Offense: .294 AVG, 157 R, 41 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 71 SB
- Team Pitching: 3.53 ERA, 166.2 IP, 129 K, 106 BB
- Team Defense: 93.5% FLD%, 41 ERR, 6 DP
SEASON AWARD WINNERS
Most Valuable Player: Brayden Bruns
Mr. Challenger: Michael Stavseth & Sam Amundson
Silver Slugger: Carson Christiansen
Cy Young: Eddie Gray
2022
Overall Record: 8-15 Home: 1-5 Away: 3-5 Neutral: 4-5
With 16 new athletes joining the program, Challenger Baseball faced an uphill battle in 2022 as the young athletes gained plenty of experience and faced strong competition. West Saint Paul kicked off the season with a 5th place finish in the 2021 Challenger Classic, followed by a third consecutive consolation championship at the BOLD Mudhen Invitational, including a memorable 13-3 victory over Saint Louis Park. However, it was followed by a difficult 6-game losing streak, before victories at Red Wing and South Saint Paul, and a 2-2 finish in Detroit Lakes. As the #8 seed in the Sub-State 6 Playoffs, West Saint Paul fell to Eagan and Saint Paul Park to finish the season.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS & STATS
- 8 players finished with .300+ batting average (Becker, Watson, Eckmann, Christiansen, Kotok, Springer, Fritz, Borman)
- 4 different players had homeruns (Eckmann, Boyken, Springer, Erickson)
- 2 pitchers finished with ERA below 4.00 (Boyken, Christiansen)
- Team Offense: .290 AVG, 157 R, 39 2B, 3 3B, 9 HR, 47 SB
- Team Pitching: 6.43 ERA, 120.2 IP, 107 K, 123 BB
- Team Defense: 89.9% FLD%, 52 ERR, 7 DP
SEASON AWARD WINNERS
Most Valuable Player: Blake Eckmann
Mr. Challenger: Jake Borman
Silver Slugger: Carson Christiansen
Cy Young: AJ Boyken
2021
Overall Record: 23-9 Home: 7-1 Away: 6-3 Neutral: 10-5
With nine athletes returning from the previous season, Challenger Baseball entered the 2021 campaign with plenty of experience, leading to one of the most successful seasons in recent team history. West Saint Paul kicked off the season with a 3rd place finish in the 2021 Challenger Classic, followed by a consolation championship at the BOLD Mudhen Invitational. The month of June included highlight wins over Rosemount and Mahtomedi. Challenger began July with a 10-game winning streak, including victories at Red Wing, Jordan, and River Falls. After a 3-1 finish in Detroit Lakes, #3-seed WSP began the Sub-State 7 Tournament with an 11-1 victory over Hamline Red. Challenger would then fall to #2 Fridley Gold, before beating #1 Rosetown and #8 North St Paul, followed by a season-ending loss to #4 Oakdale on Championship Saturday.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS & STATS
- 17-4 record in final 21 games
- 7 players finished with .300+ batting average (Young, Middleton, Boyken, Thilmany, Kotok, Pacyga, Eckmann)
- 4 different players had homeruns (Young, Kotok, Pacyga, Eckmann)
- 6 pitchers finished with ERA below 4.00 (Thilmany, Steel, Hazzard, Gage, Zenner, Klemz)
- Team Offense: .312 AVG, 200 R, 50 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 65 SB
- Team Pitching: 3.40 ERA, 203.2 IP, 144 K, 105 BB
- Team Defense: 93.8% FLD%, 57 ERR, 3 DP
- Joey Hazzard committed to play Division III baseball at Minnesota-Morris
- Angelo Pacyga committed to play Division II baseball at Minnesota-Crookston
SEASON AWARD WINNERS
Most Valuable Player: Joe Middleton
Mr. Challenger: A.J. Boyken
Silver Slugger: Jordan Young
Cy Young: Joey Hazzard
2020
Overall Record: 19-21-1 Home: 7-9 Away: 7-7-1 Neutral: 5-5
After the cancellation of the spring high school season and months of anticipation, the demand for Legion/19U baseball was greater than ever in 2020. Despite the cancellation of Legion baseball at the national level, Challenger Baseball played an "independent" schedule in 2020. West Saint Paul Challenger entered the summer with a young, passionate squad with high potential. Challenger kicked off the season with a 1-2 finish at the BOLD Invitational, which included a 2-0 win over eventual champions, Holy Angels. Challenger would then go 4-5-1 in its next ten games, including thrilling comebacks against Saint Paul and New Richmond. Continuing its pattern of consistency, the high-energy Challenger squad went 8-8 in the next 16 games, which included an upset victory at Chanhassen and double-header sweeps of Eastview and 9-3 Farmington. After 3 tough losses to Cretin and Eagan, WSP swept another double-header of Eastview and took 2nd place in Holy Angels' season-ending round robin.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS & STATS
- After beginning the season with a 9-14 record, Challenger went 10-7-1 in its final 18 games.
- 5 hitters finished with a batting average above .300 (Droel, Thilmany, Casale, Steel, Hazzard)
- 6 pitchers finished with an ERA below 4.00 (Hazzard, Zenner, Steel, Thilmany, Middleton, Klemz)
- Team Offense: .258 AVG, 171 R, 40 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 87 SB
- Team Pitching: 3.78 ERA, 265.2 IP, 208 K, 159 BB
- Team Defense: 92.7 FLD%, 83 ERR, 6 DP
- Raleigh Droel committed to play Division III baseball at Saint John's (Minn.)
SEASON AWARD WINNERS
Most Valuable Player: Tristin Thilmany
Mr. Challenger: Joe Middleton & Josh Slowiak
Cy Young: Joey Hazzard
Silver Slugger: Raleigh Droel
2014
24-7
Second place at River Falls Classic
First place in Moose Country Challenge
Three players went onto play college baseball
2013
29-10
Second place BOLD tournament
Second place in Moose Country Challenge
Won the pool and advanced to finish 2nd overall in the 90 team Gopher Classic tournament
Three players went onto play college baseball.
2012
32-17
3rd Place in Bird Island Tournament (2-1)
1st Place in Moose Country Tournament (4-1)
3 players went on to play college baseball
2011
30-14
2nd place in League F (10-6)
3rd Place Princeton Tournament (2-1)
3rd Place Moose Country Tournament (3-1)
5th place in Districts (2-2)
2010
21-11
***District F League Champions (12-4)
***#3 Seed in District Tournament
***ranked as high as 8 in the state polls
***5 players went on to play college baseball
Alex Jurich was selected to play in the Lions All Star Game. He was also selected to play in the Minnesota HS All Star's versus Team USA 18U and Japan 18U
2009
25-17
Grand Rapids Tournament Champions (6-0)
4th place in District Tournament (4-2)
***14 seed
Chago Morales got selected to play in the Lions All Star Game.
6 seniors went on to play college baseball
Grand Rapids Tournament Champions (6-0)
4th place in District Tournament (4-2)
***14 seed
Chago Morales got selected to play in the Lions All Star Game.
6 seniors went on to play college baseball
2008
23-15
Team finished 5th in District tournament (4-2). Started with a 14 seed.
Max Casper went on to play in the Lions All Star game. He also went on to play in the East/West All Star game.
Team finished 5th in District tournament (4-2). Started with a 14 seed.
Max Casper went on to play in the Lions All Star game. He also went on to play in the East/West All Star game.
2007
21-17
***BOLD tournament champions (4-0)
***BOLD tournament champions (4-0)
2006
19-16
