by Andy Rogers
Thisweek newspapers

The Lakeville Athletics and Burnsville Bobcats advanced to the amateur state tournament this year and both teams are entering with high hopes.

This is a pretty big deal for the Lakeville Athletics and its program.

The town baseball team has been around for six years and this is its first trip to state.

“This is our best team ever, for sure,” Lakeville coach Doug Johnson said.

“It was a struggle for us for a few middle years where we had trouble getting guys that were committed,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a better core this year. They’re more reliable.”

Making the state tournament should keep the team competitive down the road.

“Maybe now some guys will pick us over a couple other teams,” Johnson said. “It will really help with recruitment.”

Lakeville advanced with a big win over Eagan 11-3 Aug. 9.

Eagan jumped out with a 3-0 lead, but it was all Lakeville from there.

In the Section 5 championships, Burnsville won 7-6, giving them the top seed in the tournament.

Burnsville has had a solid season and aims to be very competitive in the state tournament. The team was 22-8 overall and 11-4 in the Cannon Valley League and they went 3-0 in the Section 5 tournament.

“We stared a little slow offensively,” Burnsville head coach Kevin McDermott said. “Our pitching held and we were able to win a couple, but our hitting came around.”

Burnsville will play at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21 against Jordan in Hutchinson. Jordan is the returning state champ from last year.

With a win, the team would play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, at Dassel and with a loss the team would play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25.

Lakeville will take on Chaska at 11 a.m. Aug. 21 in Hutchinson in the first round. With a win, the team would play at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. With a loss, the team would play at 5 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 25.

Lakeville has never played Chaska but they like their chances.

“With our pitching and defense I think we can be competitive and I think we’re going to win a couple games,” Johnson said. “They both won us several games this year.”

Lakeville’s ace Andy Schmidt should get the starting nod in the first game and probably the second.

“He’s had a couple one-hitter and several other low-hit totals and low-scoring games,” Johnson said. “He’s been our ace all year.”

The key to winning the big games will be timely hitting, according to Johnson.

“Sometimes we struggle with two outs or with base runners,” Johnson said. “If we get some of those hits we should be just fine.”

The Class B state tournament is a double elimination.

Both teams get to draft three players from other teams in the section when they reach the state tournament.

Lakeville drafted Charlie Borell of Eagan, Savage’s Travis Peterson and Josh Wigley of Apple Valley.

Burnsville took in Jeremy Hinderks from Eagan, Matt Gardner from Eagan and Joe Neilson from Apple Valley. All three are pitchers.

But Burnsville won’t be featuring anybody unless they are needed.

“Our guys got us here, so they’re the ones who are going to play,” McDermott said. “If we get into trouble we may use them, but I’m going to go with my pitchers as long as I can. My team got us there. I’d rather have my guys.”

LAKEVILLE ATHLETICS TOWN BASEBALL TEAM includes the 2000, 2nd place High School State Tournament players and a strong Gustavus Adolphus pipeline

JULY 16, 2005 (LAKEVILLE, MINNESOTA) – The Lakeville Town Baseball team, called the Lakeville Athletics, play three more games before the August playoffs. The team was founded in 2000, played in the St. Paul League for two years and then joined the Cannon Valley League (CVL) in 2002. The CVL teams are the Apple Valley Millers, Burnsville Bobcats, Eagan Bandits, Lakeville Athletics, Rosemount Black Sox and the Savage Outlaws. The top two teams from the CVL, Class B, Section 5 of the Minnesota Baseball Association qualify for the state tournament. The 2005 State Tournament will begin August 18 at Dassel/Cokato/Hutchinson. The Lakeville Town Baseball team beat last year’s Class A, 2nd place championship winner, the Rosetown A’s, 5 to 4, May 6th, 2005.

Brent Johnson and Jeremy Ripplinger played in the Lakeville Athletics’ first season. Bryant Rogness, Mark Berger and Josh Storm joined the town team in 2001. Pitcher Andy Schmidt joined the Athletics in 2003. Joe Masloski, Tommy Hutton and Jon Gaylord signed in 2004 and Nathan Aul, Aaron Madson, Trent Larson, Ben Sherer, Travis Gunderson, Brock Stimson, Ryan Manke, Danny Dennis and Andy Judkins joined this year.

Mark Berger, Bryant Rogness and Josh Storm played baseball on the Lakeville High School team that placed 2nd in the 2000 State High School Baseball Tournament. Berger graduated 1st in his class, then majored in Physics at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and now is studying Law at the University of Minnesota.

Bryant Rogness graduated from Gustavus and was named National Hitter of the Week, May 11, 2004 by the NCBWA for Division III conferences. He compiled a .688 batting average that week with 11 hits in 16 at bats. He hit five doubles, scored 10 runs and had 6 RBI’s. Rogness was perfect in the field for the week with four putouts, five assists and no errors. He also was named Hitter of the Week by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

Andy Schmidt led the Gustavus pitching staff with an overall record of 7-2 in 2005. He recorded a 2.65 earned run average in 60.2 innings of work. He walked only 13 batters while striking out 56. He led the MIAC in innings pitched (45), strikeouts (38), and shutouts (2). Schmidt and Ben Sherer were selected to the 2005 MIAC All-Conference Team. Schmidt, Sherer and Aaron Madson are next year's Gustavus Baseball Captains.

Colleges attended by Lakeville Athletics’ players include Manke at Hamline, Masloski at the University of Kansas, Ripplinger at the University of Minnesota, Stimson at Wisconsin Stout and Gaylord and Storm at Bethel. Gunderson, Hutton and Larson also studied at Gustavus. And Nathan Aul graduated from Gustavus with a 3.79 grade point average in Physics and is now earning a graduate degree in Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

The town team players balance their three-games-a-week playing schedules, May through August, with work and family obligations. One player, Jon Gaylord, and both coaches, Doug Johnson and Brian Dotson, are married. Gaylord and his wife, Amy, live in Apple Valley. Catcher Brent Johnson is a certified Real Estate Appraiser. As is his father, Doug Johnson, who founded the team for high caliber players because, “I wanted these guys to have a place to play.”

Johnson, Manke and Ripplinger graduated from Lakeville High School in 1999; Berger, Rogness and Storm in 2000; Schmidt in 2002; Dennis and Masloski in 2003; and Judkins and Stimson in 2004.

This season’s overall record is 12-7. The team beat Dundas, New Ulm and Rosetown once each and St. Louis Park twice. Losses came against Bethel and Hastings.