Legion team hits halfway point in season

The New Prague Post 45 American Legion baseball team put together several good outings in the past week and a half, including sweeping a doubleheader from St. Paul Park and placing fifth in the Mankato Tournament. The team has compiled a 4-6 record as the season reaches a halfway point.

Post 45 will be a team of road warriors for the remainder of the season. They played their final game at Memorial Park on Tuesday, June 27, against Burnsville. The stadium is being shut down for the season for reconstruction in preparation for next year’s state amateur tournament.

New Prague faces Mankato National in a doubleheader Thursday, June 29, at Wolverton Field beginning at 5:30 p.m. They will nearly a week off before returning to action Wednesday, July 5, at Woodbury.

New Prague 9, St. Paul Park 5 New Prague defeated St. Paul Park 9—5 in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, June 17. Post 45 got three runs in the first inning and two more in the third for a 5-0 lead. Will Busch pitched four-plus innings allowing three hits and striking out six to get the win. Nick Friedges pitched three innings of relief for the save.

New Prague 10, St. Paul Park 4 Max Fierst pitched 5-1/3 innings to get the win in Saturday’s second game. He gave up five walks and no hits in the first inning, allowing two runs to score, but settled down after that. Jacob Mader went 2-for-4 with a triple, and Ian Cameron and Noah Wicklander had three hits each for Post 45. Wicklander also had four RBIs.

New Prague 13, Faribault 12 New Prague opened up a 12-1 lead, then staved off a comeback by Faribault to get a 13-12 win in a nine-inning game. Luke Zweber pitched five innings, allowing four runs and five hits, but two relievers had problems putting Faribault away. Jack Becker came on with the tieing run on third base in the bottom of the ninth to get the final out for a save. Friedges had three hits, including two doubles and four RBIs. Josh Dorshak, Becker and Riley Schaeffer each had two hits for New Prague.

Farmington 9, New Prague 2 Fielding woes hurt New Prague as they gave up nine unearned runs in a 9-2 loss to Farmington. New Prague’s runs came in the final inning. Becker took the loss, with Busch finishing in relief. Mankato National 10, New Prague 4 New Prague lost the opening game of the Mankato Tournament 10-4 to the host team. National scored three runs in the third to take a 4-1 lead and built on the lead from that point. Fierst took the loss, with Ben Novak, Friedges and Mason Mayer pitching in relief. Novak had two hits for New Prague. Post 45 scored three of their four runs in the sixth, with two of them coming on a double by Mayer.

River Falls 7, New Prague 0 New Prague had base runners in six of seven innings, but none of them would find their way home and Post 45 lost to River Falls, WI, 7-0. Friedges had three of New Prague’s four hits, with singles in the second, fourth and sixth innings. Zweber took the loss.

New Prague 8, Sleepy Eye 0 Jacob Mader pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits as New Prague defeated Sleepy Eye for fifth place in the Mankato tournament. New Prague scored three runs in the first inning without a hit, using four walks and two errors. They notched another three in the second, this time with three walks, a hit and an error. Two runs in the third came via a walk, two stolen bases, an error and a pair of base hits. Mayer, Novak and Mader each had two hits and Becker had two RBIs for New Prague.