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Subscribe to our NewsletterMay 8, 2024
Week Two was washed out.
Week Three finally saw some action as the full spectrum of the Federal League started up, and we learned one thing from this past week - never pull your starter against the South Metro Saints. They eat relief pitching for a living.
After a comeback win over Apple Valley in week one, the Saints did it again. Dan Pluff was cruising through five innings pitching a two hitter and fanning five, the Angels made the move in the 6th inning calling Dave Benson to the mound - that's when the Saints scored four in the bottom of the inning taking a 4-2 lead over St Michael. Josh Conley closed the door for South Metro getting the win. The orange and black are now 2-0 and have a great resume of defeating Tim Scott and now Dan Pluff this season, or at least the relief pitching of said clubs. Erik Hill, Dan Lindsey, El Jefe Knutson, and Conley all drove in runs for the faithful.
Let's stay in the American East as the RC Rockets also became victims to relief pitching decisions. Only trailing the Mammoth by one run heading into the 7th, the Rockets pulled starter Zach Reidbarger who left with a 5-4 East Metro lead, the prehistoric elephants jumped all over option two and scored ten runs in the top of the 7th to put the game out of reach and win 15-4. Bill Hausmann hit a Grand Slam breakfast and Randy Schmidt wanted some Denny's as well but settled for a normal homerun. Hold the sides. Hausmann and Schmidt accounted for eight RBIs for East Metro. Matt Grill ended up with the victory. Rumor was Reidbarger was dealing with ten strikeouts and only one walk through the six innings for the Rockets?
Apple Valley rebounded in an early season must win game with Tim Scott pitching an absolute 2 hitter gem. Scott's complete game thirteen strikeout performance was the difference in the 1-0 win over Rosemount. Scott helped himself as he doubled to drive in Pat DeLaHunt - after his double - to score the only run of the game. Apple Valley's win over Rosemount should factor in huge come late July.
The Cannons had a fizzle of a start in Week Three, losing to the Metro Loons 14-5 on Saturday. The Loons were too busy celebrating the win to enter the boxscore of the game. But we think Bujold started and Hess did baseball things. The Cannons had a rough weekend as they had to take on the defending champs Minnoka Grays at Castle Field on Sunday. James Zapf went the distance only allowing five runs to the Grays. Jack Nelson started for the wolves going five innings and pitching a one hitter and striking out five for the win. Joey Olson had two doubles, Matt Johnson, Jeff Heuer and Dustin Wolf all had two hits each for Minnoka who start out 1-0 with a 5-1 win over the Caps. Editor's Note* even with the loss of Kleppen and Lewis, I think this Cannons team is better than last year, with added more depth and overall are a better club. They should be a tough out the rest of the way.
Week Three finally saw some action as the full spectrum of the Federal League started up, and we learned one thing from this past week - never pull your starter against the South Metro Saints. They eat relief pitching for a living.
After a comeback win over Apple Valley in week one, the Saints did it again. Dan Pluff was cruising through five innings pitching a two hitter and fanning five, the Angels made the move in the 6th inning calling Dave Benson to the mound - that's when the Saints scored four in the bottom of the inning taking a 4-2 lead over St Michael. Josh Conley closed the door for South Metro getting the win. The orange and black are now 2-0 and have a great resume of defeating Tim Scott and now Dan Pluff this season, or at least the relief pitching of said clubs. Erik Hill, Dan Lindsey, El Jefe Knutson, and Conley all drove in runs for the faithful.
Let's stay in the American East as the RC Rockets also became victims to relief pitching decisions. Only trailing the Mammoth by one run heading into the 7th, the Rockets pulled starter Zach Reidbarger who left with a 5-4 East Metro lead, the prehistoric elephants jumped all over option two and scored ten runs in the top of the 7th to put the game out of reach and win 15-4. Bill Hausmann hit a Grand Slam breakfast and Randy Schmidt wanted some Denny's as well but settled for a normal homerun. Hold the sides. Hausmann and Schmidt accounted for eight RBIs for East Metro. Matt Grill ended up with the victory. Rumor was Reidbarger was dealing with ten strikeouts and only one walk through the six innings for the Rockets?
Apple Valley rebounded in an early season must win game with Tim Scott pitching an absolute 2 hitter gem. Scott's complete game thirteen strikeout performance was the difference in the 1-0 win over Rosemount. Scott helped himself as he doubled to drive in Pat DeLaHunt - after his double - to score the only run of the game. Apple Valley's win over Rosemount should factor in huge come late July.
The Cannons had a fizzle of a start in Week Three, losing to the Metro Loons 14-5 on Saturday. The Loons were too busy celebrating the win to enter the boxscore of the game. But we think Bujold started and Hess did baseball things. The Cannons had a rough weekend as they had to take on the defending champs Minnoka Grays at Castle Field on Sunday. James Zapf went the distance only allowing five runs to the Grays. Jack Nelson started for the wolves going five innings and pitching a one hitter and striking out five for the win. Joey Olson had two doubles, Matt Johnson, Jeff Heuer and Dustin Wolf all had two hits each for Minnoka who start out 1-0 with a 5-1 win over the Caps. Editor's Note* even with the loss of Kleppen and Lewis, I think this Cannons team is better than last year, with added more depth and overall are a better club. They should be a tough out the rest of the way.
The Loons took on the Minneapolis Bombers the next night at Noble Sports Park, winning a pitchers friendly game of 4-1. But we don't know who pitched for either team so....whatever. Bombers had seven hits to the Loons five, but it wasn't enough as the Loons move to 2-0 in the National West. Brandon Casa de Calvo had twelve strikeouts for the Saints in the 8-4 win over Red West. Minnetonka hit four doubles with two from Jack Watson. He also added three RBI's for the former AA Champs.
Next week we should see action from Tonka Bay and Waconia to round out the newbies. We will see if South Metro, Snappers and Loons can continue their fortunate ways.
