8/9/16 - Well, the phenominal 3rd season from the fighting Baseball 365ers came to a disappointing end this weekend with a two game sweep at the hands of the Minneapolis Lakers. But what a season! This 2016 Baseball 365 team started the season 0-4, then went on a 26-5 run and a #5 state ranking in Class A, before losing its last 3 games. Other teams started to notice the talent on this team after wins against very strong opponents like Forest Lake, Victoria, The Diamond Cutters, Hastings, Winsted, Chanhassen, and a previously undefeated Lyons Pub team who we beat twice. A 13-5 league record secured 3rd place and a 1st round playoff bye, and set our sights on our franchises 1st State Tournament appearance, all we had to do was get thru the Lakers, who we had easily beat twice during the regular season. Unfortunately, we chose the playoffs to play the worst baseball we have played all season, coming out flat and playing uncharacteristically poor defense and putting up virtually no offense. We only scored 3 runs in 18 innings, and 2 of those runs were on errors. We had our chances, loading the bases several times during the series, but couldn't come up with any clutch hits. We ended up leaving 15 guys on base in game 1, and another 9 in game 2. Tough way to end such a great season. But we would like to congratulate the Lakers on a state tournament birth. Season highlights included; a complete game shutout by Trevor Buttermore against the previously undefeated Lyons Pub, an incredible TWO (2!!!) No-Hitters by Nate Cousins against the Merchants and Lyons Pub, a bases clearing double and "you can't see me" WWF move by Kyle Wright against the Diamond Cutters, and Nate Behlen hitting a ball so hard against the Merchants that the laser shot hit the leftfielder in the head and landed all the way in centerfield at least 50 feet away.
Players of the year;
Abe Welckle - .367 avg, 3 HR, 33 RBI (team record), 44 hits (team record)
Nate Cousins - 9-2 record, 1.07 ERA, 2 No-Hitters, 4 shutouts, only 54 hits allowed in 85 innings. (All team records)
Awards;
MVP - Abe Welckle
Cy Young - Nate Cousins
Gold Glove - Ryan Haggstrom
Rookie of the Year - Trevor Buttermore
Comeback Player of the Year (Most Improved) - Jack Piram
7/26/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home a 4-0 win over the Bloomington Bandits tonight at Red Haddox Field. As a business (off 98th and Lyndale) 365 co-owner Nate Cousins is happy to help anyone, but on this night as a pitcher he wasn't serving anyone, and (minus a few walks) gave up nothing for free (just like the store!) going the distance for the complete game shutout win. "Cy Old", amiright!?!?! On offense, well, let's just fast forward to the 8th. After 365 was held hitless through seven by two pitchers, the Bandits turned to the bullpen again. After a lead-off fly out, Jack Piram got the first hit on an infield single, then a fielders choice groundout pushed Piram to second with two out, Brandon Schmahl laced an opposite field double down the left field line scoring Piram and giving 365 a 1-0 lead. Schmahl was followed by a hard RBI single by Isaiah Welckle, an RBI double by "The Bear" Abe Welckle and a RBI single by Ryan Haggstrom. WHAMMY! Before you know it, we had a 4-0 lead. Then Cousins just finished it off and we all skipped home happy. Public shaming to Clayton Bodine for forgetting his sunglasses. And consistently forgetting the mascot.
7/13/16 - The Fightin Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home their 12th League Win with a 3-0 win over the Mudcats. Smokin' Kelvin Minnig was the story, CG, 6 K's 0 walks, all on 71-pitches. Game time of about 1:15. On offense, we didn't make a lot of noise. Brandon Schmahl scored two runs, one coming on a sac-fly by "The Bear" Abe Welckle. The final run was scored when Welckle stole home on a double-steal, that after Welckle and Ryan Haggstrom pulled off a perfect hit-and-run...Jack Piram hit a ball on the nuts tonight. Really put some good wood on it, but had nothing to show for it. But, as Jonny Camp noted, Piram is also one of the few guys to get a ball by Haggs this year. So there's that...21 of 24.
7/12/16 - Holy Cow! Are you kidding me? Unbelievable! Baseball 365 beat the Lyons Pub Warriors 5-0 behind ANOTHER NO-HITTER from Nate Cousins! For the 2nd time this season, Cousins was un-hittable, surrendering only a couple walks to the veteran Pub lineup. Cousins got a lot of help from the 365 defense, which as usual was phenominal. Ryan Haggstrom, Brandon Schmahl, and Abe Welckle all made web gems, preserving the no-no. Cousins has apperantly tapped into the fountain of youth this season, as he is now 8-0 with a miniscule 0.78 ERA. After 2 no-hitters, Cousins has only allowed 33 hits in 62.2 innings pitched. Offensively, Jackson Goplen went 2-4 with a triple, and Johnny Camp 2-3 with 2 RBI. Huge W for the 365ers!
7/8/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home a 7-0 league win over the Metro Merchants late Friday night at Parade. Smokin' Kelvin Minnig threw six scoreless, and Doug Lewis threw a goose egg in the final frame to complete the gem. Everybody hit well. Noteworthy, Jackson Goplen went 3-4 and crushed a triple to right-center that made you think he had hopes of the rare "inside the parker". Luke Bryan superfan Jack Deutsch had a clutch pinch-hit that made our speakers go "boom-boom". It didn't knock in one run, nope, Deutsch made sure no one was going home alone tonight by plating two. That's my kind of party! Unfortunately, while trying to kick the dust up, Deutsch was thrown out by about 10 feet going to second. Good all-around game by Clayton Bodine, few nice defensive plays, and a great at bat that ended in a walk and an overall 2 for 3 game. And finally, Nate "Bam-Bam" Behlen hit a line-drive to left so hard that it hit off the left-fielder's head and ended up all the way in center about 50 yards away. Hat tip to the left-fielder, who stayed in the game, even though obviously concussed.
7/7/16 - Baseball 365 dropped a heartbreaker to the Angels 3-2 after a week off. Pitchers duel all the way, but a mis-played bunt led to an Angels run that ended up being the difference. The Angels just flat out beat us this day.
6/30/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home an important league win 5-0 over the Minneapolis Lakers tonight at Parade. Nate Cousins was the story, as he went the distance without surrendering a run...with a little help from friends. Leftfielder Jackson Goplen gunned a runner at the plate on a one-hopper to catcher Domenic Dandrea, and true to their personalities they made it seem like just another day at the park. The 36-year old Cousins is pitching like a kid again, hitting his spots and allowing our defense to do the work...and they do it well. On offense; Ryan Haggstrom is the man, yet again. Haggs, pulled out the old Willie Mays Hayes play from Major League, where Jake Taylor beat the throw and Hayes never stopped from 2nd and scored on a ball that never left the infield. This is big-boy baseball, you don't usually get away with that...but Haggs did. In the dugout, the major question is "Top Three Celebrities You'd Date"...Scarlett Johanson is getting a lot of votes...Hesby has some supporters amongst his fanclub...Mila Kunis is popular too. Next Game: Tuesday, July 5th at Dred Scott Field. Enjoy the 4th of July everybody!!!
6/27/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home an important league win tonight 1-0 over the highly-talented and highly-ranked Lyon's Pub Warriors in what can only be described as a pitcher's duel. The story of the night was two recent University of Minnesota-Crookston graduates, Trevor Buttermore and Ryan Haggstrom. The obvious player of the game was Buttermore, who threw the complete game gem, while only allowing three hits. This on its own was amazing, but the fact he was an emergency starter after the scheduled starter got hurt, makes it all the more impressive. Buttermore came to us just "looking for a chance". Given the opportunity, all he's done is pitch well. The Pub was the third ranked team he has beat this year (Forest Lake, Diamond Cutters the other two) but none more impressive than tonight. Buttermore is a new father, but he has also become our own "Bundle of Joy". Haggs, on the other hand, engineered our only run by dropping a beautiful bunt, moving to second on a hit by Jackson Goplen, stealing third (Gop didn't trail), then stealing home on a double-steal when Gop stole second. That run in the 2nd inning, was the only one of the game. Haggs also handled eight defensive plays cleanly. In fact, it was a clean game all around as neither team committed an error. In the dugout, it was nice to see Archy Olson back in uniform after missing a couple weeks with a concussion. A very well-liked, popular teammate, even when we sometime have no idea what he is talking about.
6/24/16 - Baseball 365 beat the expansion Mudcats 5-2 Friday night. Nate Cousins surrendered just 3 hits, and has now only allowed 8 hits in his last 28 innings pitched. In addition to not allowing opponents to hit off him lately, Cousins has only allowed 4 walks in his last 42.2 innings pitched. The game was a nail-biter until late, with Baseball 365 clinging onto a 1-0 lead until the 6th inning, when after loading the bases, veteran Johnny Camp came up with a bases clearing double, that broke open the game. I should also add that Camp was robbed of a homerun earlier in the game when the homeplate umpire ruled his smash foul, while later the field ump telling Camp he thought it was fair. Jackson Goplen had a 3 hit day, while Jack Piram and Quinlan Milne-Rojek added 2 hits each. Good team win.
6/22/16 - Your Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfivers headed over to Bethel College this evening, and came away with an 8-1 win over the Diamond Cutters. "Sleepless in St. Paul" (new baby) star Trevor Buttermore was the man. He went all 7 innings while only allowing 5 hits and the one earned. Eight of the nine starters recorded a hit, with Isaiah Welckle (3 hits overall), Jackson Goplen (2) and Jonny Camp recording doubles. In the dugout, Kyle Wright's Tuesday performance was the talk of the night. A three run double followed by an epic "You can't see me." In other dugout news, I owe Ryan Haggstrom a #9 from Jimmy John's for Friday's 6:15 game against the MudCats at Parade. We've won 12 out our last 14, only losing a stinker to the Cobras and falling victim to a dominating pitching performance by the Angels. Finally, did you know our very own aforementioned Jackson Goplen has a fan club dating back to 2011? Check it out. As the kids say, "It's Fresh":
6/17/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's won an 8-3 League Game over the Blue Sox tonight at Parade. Nate Cousins started on the bump and threw three perfect innings before giving up a lead-off single in the 4th to end his no-hit streak at 10 innings. Cousins would go six while only allowing 1 run to earn the win. Offensively, a few guys had big nights. Brandon Schmahl just about left the yard with the first pitch of the game, but settled for a short hop double and later scored. Jackson Goplen crushed a triple to left-center for his first hit this year with 365. Clayton Bodine had a two run single on a nice shot to Right Field, to go along with a hustle double (and hustle run) earlier in the game. But the P-P-P-PPOWERADE TWISTED BLACKBERRY (!!!!!) Player of the Game is "The Bear" Abe Welckle who went 4-4, with a double, 3 RBI, a run scored and two SB's. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Quinlan Milne-Rojek who had a hit and a couple SB's tonight. But his route to second isn't the most direct... it was very "Family Circus" like.
6/13/16 - Two hits? That's all we got is two goddamn hits?!! Solid pitching performance from Kelvin Minnig wasted...
6/11/16 - Nate Cousins threw a NO-HITTER against the Metro Merchants on a very steamy Saturday afternoon game. Cousins kept the Merchants off balance all game, allowing very few balls to be hit squarely. This was Cousins' 2nd career No-Hitter, the first one coming 9 years ago in 2007 versus the Minneapolis Cobras. Suprisingly, barely anyone on Baseball 365 knew it was a No No, until several Merchants players congratulated Cousins on the No-Hitter while shaking hands...it was only then that most of the 365ers figured out what had just happened and the celebration began. Probably a good thing that some of the younger 365 players didn't know, as they would have for sure jinxed it! Offensive star of the game was Quinlan Milne-Rojek, who recorded 2 solid hits and was a terror on the basepaths, manufacturing 2 of the 4 runs scored. Final score was 4-0, moving Baseball 365 to 4-2 in the league, 8-5 overall.
6/7/16 - Baseball 365 came out flat against the Angels and lost 6-1.
6/4/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's beat a young New Germany team today for their seventh straight win. Nate Cousins threw six innings, striking out 11 for the win. Doug Lewis threw two perfect, and Kyle Schnickels won me a beer by pitching a perfect ninth with two K's. "The Bear" Abe Welckle hit a three-run bomb. His brother, "The Cub" Isaiah Welckle also had a nice game. They are both good at baseball, but might even be better at life. Archy Olson had three hits and two walks, but still doesn't understand that baseball is a game of failure. I'm also convinced Jonny Selchow has one of the prettiest swings you'll ever see from a right-handed hitter. It's very aesthetically pleasing. On the bad side...we had a ton of players that didn't make the trip. I'm okay with people missing. Baseball (allegedly) isn't the most important thing in life. I get it, I really do. I would actually be upset if people missed family events/work/etc. to play ball. It's about priorities, and there is no reason baseball should/needs to be #1. I'm not talking about the guys that let the team know beforehand either. But you know who you are. That being said, all "Imma" say about it, is that if I hear or see anyone complaining or pouting about playing time, it's not going to be well received. If it's an issue about the drive, let me know. We can carpool. I will even emasculate myself and borrow my sister's mini-van with her dank "Tastefully Simple" decals if we need more room. This team is special...let's keep it that way. And that means showing up. Next game is Tuesday at Parade, 6:15. Cookout to follow. Porkchops are on the menu. Why (Abe)? Because I said so. That's why.
5/31/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home their sixth consecutive "dubya" with a 6-1 victory over the Minneapolis River Rats. Kelvin Minnig was the story on the mound, going the distance while only allowing the 1 ER and doing it all on 75 pitches, finally ending the plague the Rats have put forth upon us since the 2014 playoffs. Offensively, Ryan Haggstrom, Jack Deutsch, and Brandon Schmahl all had extra base-hits. Abe Welckle made a bid to hit one out, but the freshly removed trees from right-field prevented it. See, the optimum time for elevation is right off the bat. Without the natural windscreen prevented by the trees, the ball was knocked down early, thus preventing Welckle's dinger. It's basic eco-system logic (right?), and the Minneapolis Parks board failed to take it into consideration. (But they will charge you $4.00 to park in their mortar shelled parking lot.) Quinlan Milne-Rojek wins best dressed for the evening with the America themed sleeve covering his Canadian themed, Minneapolis themed tattoo.
5/26/16 - The Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's took home their fifth consecutive victory, and second straight league win with a 6-2 victory over the Patriots at Dick Cassidy Field in North Minneapolis. Nate Cousins pitched 5 1/3 before he was forced to leave with a mosquito bite "caused" by a "hard hit" ball off his ankle. You can't trust these kids with their WebMD diagnosis...Actually, Cousins got drilled in the ankle with a 4-2 lead, his ankle blew up (but he completed the play for an out). "The Kid" Andrew Lee came in relief and, ho hum, struck out three of five batters he faced to record his first career Townball save. When asked how it felt, he said, and I quote..."Good." Offensively, the stars were Ryan Haggstrom who crushed a two run double, and "stole home" on a bad throw back to the pitcher. Haggs is the real "Dark Knight". You don't see him much, or hear much from him, but when you need him...he's always there. Isaiah Welckle also was clutch tonight with a two run double. Welckle was also hosed on a couple bad calls tonight. Legitimately hosed. For better or worse, 365 understands that umpires are humans, and there will be mistakes. We may chirp our disapproval with a particular call but we're not going to threaten to burn villages or anything over it...we're weird like that. Anyway, after the game, an umpire admitted he missed the call. No harm, no foul. Didn't make a difference in the game, but while not necessary, it was a very professional gesture in a game we sometime forget is still amateur. Finally, a very Happy Birthday to Jack Piram!! 21 years old!
5/22/16 - Your Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's went out to Victoria this evening, and left with a 6-1 win over the Vic's. Quinlan Milne-Rojek was the man on the mound, going six scoreless, followed by Jamin Hesby pitching two while only allowing the lone unearned run, and finally "The Kid" Andrew Lee making his mound debut with a scoreless ninth while recording two strikeouts. Clayton Bodine was the glove man at SS, making a few nice plays and all the routine. Jack Deutsch celebrated graduating from college by reaching base safely four times. A solid win. Without a doubt, the highlight of the night was Kyle Wright's base running miscue. After making the curious decision to do what we thought was a delayed steal, Wright made it about 80 feet before stopping and looking in the dugout with confusion on his face. What he saw was about 10 other guys equally confused. So he gets tagged out, and when he gets back to the dugout he tries to explain what was going on. I'll spare the details, but let's just say "the coverup is almost always worse than the crime." He had the whole dugout cracking up though, so it's all good! Good times. Next game tomorrow night, 6:15 at Dick Cassidy Field against the expansion MudCats.
5/19/16 - Big League game win for the Fightin' Base Ball Three-Sixtyfiver's tonight as they came away with a 3-1 victory over the stubborn Blue Sox tonight at Parade. This win was about the veteran's starting to come around. Abe Welckle showed us the thunder in his bat with a crushed double, and the lightning in his legs with a stolen base. Johnny Camp showed veteran leadership by taking a HBP to lead-off an inning and later scoring of our first run because of it. Yours truly came back from fighting the flu to hit a double, which makes me feel better than the Dayquil and Nyquil I've been pounding. But the story of the night was P-Nash Veteran Nate Cousins who except for a blip in the second inning, shut down the Sox in a complete game 79 pitch (ish) effort. His fastball was crisp and his curveball was under pin-point control. Of course he couldn't do it without our phenomenal defense, which continues to make all the routine, and a lot of spectacular plays. A Brandon Schmahl relay to Camp to Domenic Dandrea nailed a runner at the plate, preserving a 1-1 tie in the 6th. Dandrea gunned a would-be basestealer. Quinlan Milne-Rojek catches everything in the 612... just another day in the field for 365 at Parade. It should also be noted that "The Kid" Andrew Lee continues to hit, recording a knock in each of the four games he's played. At 17, he's the youngest player in 365's brief history. He can swing the bat, no doubt. And has a cannon for an arm. (We'll see him on the mound shortly.) And he has flame patterned shoes, but he needs to cool it a little bit on the basepaths. First things first, at least he's getting on the bases to BE ABLE to run. All in all, a solid, if not spectacular win. Next game: Sunday in Victoria, 6:00.
5/18/16 - Baseball 365 finally had the offensive explosion we'd been waiting for, and it happened in the 5th inning of the 5th game, and it was accurately predicted by Johnny Camp. He called the exact inning it would happen, and if you know Johnny, you hate admitting he was right, but this ONE time he was. A 9 run 5th ended with a 15-4 victory over Hopkins. Brandon Schmahl has started to be treated like Bryce Harper, being pitched around and walking all 5 times up to bat. Abe Welckle was 3-5 with 4 RBIs, although 2 of his hits were not exactly crushed, but that's baseball, and sometimes that's exactly what you need to get out of a slump...that, or a fat chick. Abe was willing to take either at this point. Rookie Clayton Bodine entered in the 5th and delivered a 2 for 2, 3 RBI performance at the plate...yet is 0 for 2 on catching flyballs, and 0 for 2 on fielding grounders. We'll need to go Lou Brown on him soon and hit balls at him like Roger Dorn and tell him to "Get in front of the damn ball, don't give me this olay bullshit!". Good 1st win, now we get rolling!
5/16/16 - Baseball 365 dropped the league opener to the always tough Minneapolis Cobras 8-4. Early games are tough for teams with 90% of their players in college, and this game saw 365 without their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd string catchers. This left P-Nash veteran Ryan Cousins as the only option, even though he's missed the last 2 seasons because of major back surgery. The Baseball 365 pitchers didn't go easy on him either, throwing more balls in the dirt as you'll ever see in a baseball game. Kelvin Minnig started for Baseball 365 and threw well against a very tough Cobras lineup, so tough that former 365 masher and cleanup hitter Sam Bunnett bats 8th for them. Minnig threw well, but a tight zone led to a few walks, which against the Cobras always spells trouble. The Cobras jumped out to a 4-0 lead, before 365 started to fight back. Ryan Haggstrom had a huge 2 RBI double, to bring 365 within one at 4-3 in the 5th. But once the call to the bullpen was made, things fell apart, allowing the Cobras to add 4 more late runs, finishing the Baseball 365 comeback efforts.