Won for Donnie
On the mound, “It was hard to concentrate,” said pitcher Preston Nuy.
“I’d look over and see that No. 11 jersey in the dugout,” Nuy said.
Nuy, with ninth inning “save” help from Henry Pesch, defeated Cottonwood 3-2.
“Everyone wanted to do it for him,” Nuy said about the team’s fallen mate, Donnie Schuelke.
“It was hard to play under these circumstances,” said Schuelke’s friend and teammate Brock Fox.
Fox was one of those who went looking for Schuelke when he was reported missing.
“It was good to play. We met last night and I left it up to them whether they wanted to play or not,” said Coach Keven Larson.
Were they playing for Schuelke? “Yes, that — and we just wanted to get together and do something — together,” the coach said.
Although Schuelke wasn’t playing Legion ball because of his 4-H and FFA commitments this summer, he was the varsity team captain and “heart and soul” of a the high school team.
“He just was such a good kid. He did anything you asked ... helped everyone,” said Coach Larson.
With the death of Schuelke heavy on their hearts, the Viking Legion got a two-hit performance from Nuy and Pesch and put away a team that beat them previously.
“Donnie was always happy,” said Fox.
He would have been happy with the way he was honored by his teammates Monday night.
Minneota banged away at Cottonwood’s sterling pitcher Seth Plotz.
The Cottonwood righty struck out 11 — but Minneota managed six hits and got some amazing efforts from the least-likely sources.
Mark Laleman singled home the first run in the second inning and Blake Nelson punched a single to center to score Henry Pesch with the second run in the fifth inning.
Cottonwood scored in the fifth after an error and sacrifice fly by Plotz that sent Chris Berg to home plate.
But Poltz would live to regret his brief moment of “wildness”. In the fourth after a Landon Rolbiecki single, he waked the bases full, then walked Everett VanHecke to force in a run.
“We’ll be going together to the funeral (for Schuelke),” said the coach.
Then he tried to switch and talk about the game.
“We did a lot of little things that made a difference,” he said, indicating the runs batted in by Nelson and Laleman, nice catches by Laleman in centerfield and solid play at shortstop by Teddy Pesch.
The Legion was missing Thomas Hennen, Landon Abraham and Alex Pohlen, but Teddy Pesch and Landon Rolbiecki filled in admirably.
“They wanted to play, despite pretty bad circumstances,” said the coach.
He also reported Canby has folded its team for the year. “They had trouble getting players,” said Coach Larson.
Minneota had a doubleheader with Canby coming up, so Larson is now scurrying to find teams to play.
He indicated the rest of Canby’s games would go down as 2-0 losses — so Minneota has picked up a couple more wins already.
It’s uncertain if the games Canby has won will change to forfeits in the standings.
Minneota 3, Cottonwood 2
MINNEOTA (AB-R-H-RBI) Austin DeVlaeminck, c 4-0-1-0; Brock Fox, 1b 3-0-0-0; Henry Pesch, 2b-p 3-1-1-0; Preston Nuy, p-2b 4-0-0-0; Landon Rolbiecki, lf 4-1-1-0; Blake Nelson, 3b 4-0-1-1; Jaymes Moon, cf 0-0-0-0; Mark Laleman, cf 2-0-1-1; Everett VanHecke, rf 2-0-0-1. Totals 29-3-6-3.
COTTONWOOD (AB-R-H-RBI) Chris Berg, cf 4-2-1-0; Jacob Rausch, ss 3-0-0-0; Jacob Neu, c 2-0-0-0; Seth Plotz, p 3-0-1-2; Tristen Groff, 1b 2-0-0-0; Coner Dopp, rf 2-0-0-0; Lucas Hodges, cf 0-0-0-0; Austin Timm, 3b 2-0-0-0; Noah Jensen, 2b 3-0-0-0; Aaron Lieneman, lf 3-0-0-0. Totals 24-2-2-2.
Score by Innings
Minneota 010 110 0 — 3 6 0
Cottonwood 001 010 0 — 2 2 2
E-Cottonwood: Timm, Groff. LOB-Minneota: 10; Cottonwood 7. SAC-Cottonwood: Timm.
Pitching IP R ER H BB K
Minneota
Preston Nuy (W) 6 2 2 2 5 3
Henry Pesch (S) 1 0 0 0 1 1
Cottonwood
Seth Plotz (L) 7 3 2 6 5 11
WP-Plotz (2); Nuy 1.