By Ryan Simonson
Contributing Writer
Enter the Miesville Mudhens. Adored by their notorious fans who filter into historic Jack Ruhr Stadium on sunny summer days, their bellies full of cold beer and exotic King’s Place hamburgers, eager to catch a glimpse of a few thunderous Mudhen home runs disappearing into the rows of gently swaying corn stalks behind the outfield fence.
Those same Mudhens are absolutely abhorred by the players and fans of so many teams that have fought a years-long uphill battle to knock Miesville down a peg, joylessly watching the extremely competent and endlessly confident Mudhens cruise past them year after year, forcing their way in the state quarter or semifinals seemingly every season, while seizing state titles in 2016, 2017, and again in 2024. In all, the Hens have won eight championships and have appeared in the title game 13 times.
Love them or loathe them, the Miesville Mudhens are a perennial force to be reckoned with in Minnesota.
The Champlin Park LoGators, meanwhile, have established themselves as one of the state’s premier baseball clubs in the upper class of larger metro teams, making nine consecutive tournament appearances, finishing second in 2022 and third in 2021 and 2024, but never clamping their jaws around an elusive championship trophy. Their small but energetic following shows up proudly at their Noble Park home contests and follows the club to the far corners of the state during tournament season.
The game’s opposing hurlers put the diversity of townball experience on display in a rare inversion of roles. Toeing the rubber for Miesville, 37 year-old stocky Mudhens mainstay Deryk Marks and his signature goatee, throwing to a youthful, 23 year-old Brock Rinehart. On the hill for the LoGators was stringy southpaw, 19 year-old Louis Walker, caught by 41 year-old densely mustached Champlin Park player/manager Matt Marek.
The Gators were retired in the top of the first inning with little fanfare, save a one-out walk to Jack Puder. In the bottom half of the first frame the Mudhens jumped out to a quick lead when longtime LoGator nemesis Joey Werner crushed a homer with Ben Vujovich scoring ahead of him for a 2-0 lead.
Champlin Park bared its teeth in the second inning. With two outs, Evan Mocchi hit a single, followed by a walk to Matt Marek. Sam Puder drove Mocchi in with a single, then Marek scored on a Brayden Hellum single to tie the game at 2-2. But the Gators weren’t done. A walk to Jack Puder loaded the bases for Sam Riola, who emptied the bags with a double. A Logan Jordan RBI single pushed the score to 6-2 LoGators before the inning ended.
After a few quiet innings, the green-clad fans of Gator nation were starting to taste victory as the game entered the fifth inning, while the Mudhens faithful were noticeably muffled in their seats. Champlin Park, however, again went down in order. The Mudhens proceeded to cut into the Champlin Park lead and looked poised to significantly close the gap or tie the game in the home half of the inning when Lucas McNellis singled followed by a walk to Max Gamm, bringing up the top of the order. Alex Hendrickson struck out, followed by Ben Vujovich slicing a masse-shot single to the no-man’s land of shallow left field, driving McNellis in from second. A sharp Joey Werner single then loaded the bases for 2024 tournament MVP and feared slugger Ronny Sweeny, who would pop out to third base then declare his frustration with an expletive-filled outburst heard clearly by every soul in the ballpark. Evan Nelson then flew out to end the inning, Miesville having only cut the lead to 6-3.
The Gators put runners on the corners in the sixth, with a Marek base on balls (pinch run for by Aaron Urlaub) and a Sam Puder single. Miesville then went to the pen with two outs for 18 year-old Jac Wright, who coaxed Hellum into a flyout to end the threat.
Champlin Park went to lefty Connor Nygard in the home half of the seventh inning, and he was able to wiggle out of the seventh and eighth innings without surrendering a run. The Gators loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, but came up empty when Hellum lined out sharply to second base.
Miesville loaded the bags in the bottom half of the eighth before Vujovich grounded out to first base to end the inning. Friction then erupted between the teams as, following the last out, Nygard catapulted his glove across the diamond toward his dugout in celebration, nearly hitting Mudhens players walking off the field, and enraging Miesville’s dugout. On-deck hitter Werner was noticeably hot, storming on to the field and opening a volley of shouts between the two dugouts. After a meeting of the umpires, Nygard was then ejected from the game.
Champlin Park’s offense came alive again in the top half of the ninth inning. Jack Puder was hit by a pitch, then stole second. Riola hit a flare single into soft left field. Logan Jordan was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then Adam Puder crushed what would turn out to be a long single to the left field warning track, scoring Jack Puder, with Riola advancing to third after holding up to tag. A Marek single scored two runs, pushing the LoGators lead to 9-3 entering the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Mudhens, no strangers to playing with their backs against the wall, looked plenty assured as they took their warmup swings, eyeing new LoGator pitcher Trent Palmer, in to finish the game. Werner worked a five-pitch walk from the erratic Palmer, followed by a Sweeny single and a four-pitch walk to Evan Nelson to load the bases. LoGator nation began to sweat.
Brock Reinhart crushed a double off the center field fence, scoring Werner and Sweeny and making it a 9-5 game with nobody out and two runners now in scoring position. After a strikeout of Marks, a McNellis single scored two more Mudhens and the seemingly insurmountable LoGator lead shrunk to 9-7.
Miesville then pinch hit veteran Matt Van Der Bosch, the tying run, who was walked on four pitches.
With the winning run now at the plate, Champlin Park went again to the bullpen for southpaw Charlie Hutchinson, who got Hendrickson to pop up for the second out. Vujovich then drove a 2-2 pitch into right field, which scored another run when the relay throw was mishandled to make it 9-8 Champlin Park.
With the LoGators already unraveling, the unimaginable happened. With Werner at the plate, Hutchinson balked in the tying run. The Miesville Mudhens had completed a six-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Then Werner ended it. Perhaps everyone in the stadium knew he would. Not content with driving in Vujovich to walk off a win, Werner crushed a ball over the right center fence, concluding one of the most dramatic comebacks in state tournament history with a pair of exclamation points. Final score: Miesville 11, Champlin Park 9.
Down to their last out, the most beloved and hated team in the state of baseball gave their boisterous fans and emphatic detractors an arsenal of ammunition to carry into the 2026 season and beyond.
