New Prague Legion team enters post-season

The New Prague Post 45 American Legion baseball team opens a best-of-three playoff series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 24, against Northfield at Dundas.

Post 45 has the home field advantage for the series. The second game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the third game, if necessary, at 6 p.m. Sunday.

New Prague and Northfield split two games this season. New Prague won June 18 by a 10-1 score and Northfield 3-1 on July 9.

New Prague received the 11th seed out of 33 teams in the Third District. Northfield was the 22nd seed.

The winner of the best-of-three series advances to a 16-team double-elimination tournament that will be played starting July 30 with first and second round games in Prior Lake, Eagan, Red Wing and Northfield.

New Prague won two of three games last week to conclude the season with a 12-8 record. They were 10-4 in league play. They defeated league champion Eastview and Farmington, then lost a makeup game to Faribault.

Post 45 9, Eastview 2

Matt Perkinson allowed just two hits and two runs, and Brad Weiers pitched 1-1/3 innings for a save as New Prague defeated Eastview 9-2 Wednesday, July 16, in Apple Valley.

New Prague got an early jump on Eastview, scoring two in the first. Troy Kubes walked, and Tyler Bergstrom and Seth Ambroz singled. Then two runs scored on a base hit by Weiers.

Tom Fadden scored a run in the second inning, getting a single and advancing on an error, then coming home on a groundout by Justin Novak.

New Prague made it 4-0 in the fifth when Novak singled, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.

Eastview scored a run in the fifth, but New Prague got it back with one in the sixth. Ambroz singled, and Weiers walked. Connor Smisek sacrificed the runners ahead, then Fadden followed with a base hit.

Eastview made it 5-2 with a run in the sixth. Weiers came on in relief with a run in and two on base and got the final out on a grounder.

New Prague scored four more in the seventh to ice the game. Novak was hit by a pitch and stole second. With two outs, Bergstrom singled to drive in a run. Ambroz drove in Bergstrom with a single and after singles by Weiers and Smisek loaded the bases, Fadden brought in the final two runs with a base hit.

Perkinson allowed two hits and struck out three while allowing two runs. Weiers gave up two hits and struck out one.

New Prague had 12 hits, led by Ambroz and Fadden with three each. Bergstrom and Weiers had two hits apiece, and Novak and Smisek each had one.

Post 45 5, Farmington 4

New Prague jumped to an early 5-1 lead over Farmington and held on for a win Friday evening in New Prague.

Post 45 led 2-0 with two runs in the bottom of the first. Nate Novak singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored on Kubes' grounder to third. Bergstrom followed with a double and came home on a base hit by Ambroz.

Farmington scored a run in the second, but Post 45 got it back with one of their own. Smisek walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a base hit by Nate Novak.

New Prague added two in the third for a 5-1 lead. Kubes was hit by a pitch and moved up on a wild pitch. After a walk to Bergstrom, Ambroz singled on an error allowing Kubes to score. Jeff Dietz reached on a fielder's choice, with Bergstrom thrown out at home. Dietz stole second, and Smisek followed with a sacrifice fly to score Ambroz.

Dustin Beckius cruised through the first five innings, allowing just three hits and one run. He gave up a pair of runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh to make the game close. He allowed six hits and four runs, three earned, while striking out three in seven innings.

New Prague had nine hits, with Nate Novak, Bergstrom and Ambroz getting two each and Weiers, Mitch Lunder and Perkinson getting one each.

Faribault 14, Post 45 5

New Prague again jumped to a big lead, but this time couldn't hold on as Faribault posted a 14-5 win in a makeup game Sunday evening at Faribault.

New Prague got four runs in the first inning. Kubes drove in teh first run wiht an RBI single scoring Nate Novak. Bergstrom and Ambroz had back-to-back doubles, with Ambroz driving in two runs. Weiers had a base hit to bring in the final run.

Faribault scored twice in the second and three in the third to take a 5-4 lead. New Prague tied it at 5-5 when Fadden drew a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second by Perkinson and scored on a base hit by Justin Novak.

Faribault scored twice in the fourth to take a 7-5 lead, then doubled their total with seven runs in the sixth inning.

Smisek was the starting pitcher, but lasted just two innings, He gave up five hits and five runs, four of them earned, while striking out one. Ambroz came on in relief and was charged with the loss. He allowed one hit and struck out six in three-plus innings, but hit four batters and walked three more as he gave up five runs, four of them earned. Justin Novak pitched one inning and allowed four hits and four runs, three of them earned.

New Prague had six hits, with Kubes getting two and one each from Justin Novak, Bergstrom, Ambroz and Weiers.

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