The Mudhens did it again, they are the Minnesota Baseball Association Class B State Champions for 2024 after a seven-year title drought. The Hens took out the Champlin Park LoGators in a back-and-forth battle in the semifinal round 4-3, avenging the 2022 loss to the LoGators in the 2022 tournament held at Jack Ruhr Field. The championship game had the Hens facing Air Freight Unlimited and Miesville dismantled them 12-1 in seven innings.
Miesville entered the tournament as the second seed from Section 1 and they handily defeated the Minneapolis Mudcats in the first round. Their second-round game was shaping up to be the last game of the season against the St. Paul Mudhens but a huge come from behind win in extra innings sent them to the final weekend of play.
This final weekend is always the gauntlet for teams and a huge test of their depth, especially at pitcher. At this point it is a win or go home scenario and the teams play two games.
Miesville 4, LoGators 3
The Mudhens wasted little time in starting their chirping of the opposing dugout and then added fuel to that fire with Ronnie Sweeny singling to push Max Gamm across the plate for the early 1-0 lead. Champlin Park punched the Hens right back in the beaks scoring two on consecutive doubles. The LoGators add one in the bottom of the third on a Mudhens error.
Miesville kept doing their thing and in the fifth inning they ties the game on a single by Ben Vuyovich and a ground out by Sweeny. That is when Miesville starter Quinn Kruger took over shutting down the LoGators.
Brian Sprout hit a towering double to left to move Brock Reinhart to third and a sacrifice fly gave the Mudhens the lead for good.
Miesville 12, Air Freight 1 (7 innings)
North St. Paul’s 2023 graduate Willy Coborn took to the mound for Air Freight Unlimited (AFU) and Jacob Dickmeyer started on the bump for Miesville. It did not take long for the Hens to take advantage of Coborn’s youth, Joey Werner drove in the early run in the first to put Miesville on top.
Coborn settled down in the second and Air Freight managed to push a run across to tie the game at one and that is when the flood gates opened for the Hens and the nightmare began for AFU. Six hits and seven runs later, Miesville was up 8-1 with Sweeny, Matt Van Der Bosch, Reinhart and Deryk Marks all getting in on the slaughter before a Max Gamm homer put an emphatic exclamation point on the seven-run inning.
Miesville continued to pile on the runs in the fourth, fifth and six innings combining for a total of 17 hits off of Air Freights five different pitchers used. By the time the Hens grounded AFU in the seventh, they had only allowed one run on just three hits and Miesville took home their eighth state championship with a 12-1 mercy rule win.
Next season, the Minnesota Baseball Association is making major changes to their classes that includes the Mudhens and Hastings Hawks moving into a new A class. Some of the Classic Cannon Valley League teams will stay B and some will stay C. What that means for next years playoffs is still up in the air, but one thing is certain, the Mudhens will be looking to win their ninth state title no mater how things shake out for the playoffs.