By Ryan Simonson
MBA Contributing writer
Union Hill, Minnesota is a diminutive, unincorporated community in Derrynane Township with land sitting in both Scott and Le Sueur counties, a mere five miles due west of New Prague on Highway 19. Consisting of little more than an imposing 1867 gothic stone church, a tavern, and Don Geisen baseball field with its famous willy-nilly meandering outfield fence (the three crucial ingredients of a proper townball community), the storied Union Hill Bulldogs team has been fed almost exclusively by a pipeline of players from New Prague High — a school that has also historically provided players to their own Orioles, as well as Veseli, Webster, and even St. Patrick, Lonsdale, and St. Benedict, making it a remarkable baseball talent factory for a town of 8,000.
As the fourth seed from District 3, the Bulldogs drew an opening round matchup with the Princeton Panthers, the second seed from District 1, setting them up to play as visitors in a town and ballpark most of their players grew up in the shadows of, against a Princeton Panthers team that fought their way to a District championship game and traveled the better part of 100 miles to occupy the home line on the scoreboard.
Princeton started their right-handed draftee from the Isanti Redbirds, James Green, to face the Bulldogs’ local product Tanner Nordrum, and the New Prague High School alum would do the home town fans that filled the Memorial Park grandstand proud, going 8 innings and striking out 9 while surrendering only five hits.
After a scoreless first inning, Union Hill lit up the scoreboard with three runs in the second inning with a Jack Kreutzian double to score Tomas Lee, followed by a Joe Becker double off the warning track to score Nate Lee and Kreutzian. They would strike again in the third with a Tomas Lee sacrifice fly and in the fifth, when a Will Busch single scored Eric Berg who had singled and stole second base.
Meanwhile, the Panthers could not manage to push a run across, missing their best opportunity by stranding the bases loaded in the third, while failing to move a runner past first base in the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth.
With four runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, with Tomas and Nate Lee each delivering RBI doubles off Princeton’s Kevin Rahe, Union Hill opened up a commanding 10-0 lead.
With their backs to the wall, facing death by the mercy rule, the Panthers would push two runs across with Jake Carlson scoring on a Nick Spitt single, followed by a Gehrig Scheiffel sacrifice fly to score Nolan Spence. It would be the only runs Princeton would score in the game, as Union Hill draftee Riston Wojcik from Eagle Lake would slam the door in the bottom of the 9th to seal the 10-2 victory.
Tanner Nordrum earned player of the game honors, with Conrad Masberg and Nate Lee each providing three hits for the Bulldogs. Tomas Lee had a pair of hits and three RBIs.
Nolan Spence led the Panthers with two hits and Nick Spitt had a hit and an RBI.
Union Hill advances to face the Delano Athletics, the defending Class B champions, on Saturday, August 29th, in Shakopee, at 11am.
