2023 35+ Cactus

Minnoka Grays 15, Houston Gamblers 8

“Triumph in the Desert: The Minnoka Grays’ Championship Week in Arizona” by Tristan Ludlow

How can you sum up a fourteen-year journey in a single page of words? How can you even summarize the week the Grays had this year in Arizona in a number of short paragraphs? The story deserves a “30 for 30” ESPN short or at least a cheap cable access documentary with bad editing that airs on television at 3AM next to some random fishing show. But we can do our best to spit out the story, it’s the least we can do for all the guys who poured all their talent, energy, heart and patience into one incredible October week that summed up one glorious season of baseball for the Minnoka Grays.

“So the last shall be first, and the first last…” Matthew 20:16

In the world of baseball, where the unforgiving cracks of a bat and an unlucky bounce through the infield can shape and unshapen destinies, there existed a group of ballplayers who knew no surrender. For a decade the Grays were last, they took their lumps and lost every way you can think of; errors through the legs, sixteen pitch walks, hit batter walk-offs, heart-breaking double-digit collapses. Grays made it an art form, worthy of displaying one of their depressing box scores at the Louvre in Paris.

But the Grays always had talent and love – for the game and their teammates. The guys that stuck around had heart and never got down themselves, worked hard and were rewarded fourteen years later, as it paid off in 2023. It started with an incredible summer winning the North Division for the third year in a row, then they followed that up with the Grays first Federal League AAA Championship (the top bracket) and closed with winning maybe the last 35+ State Baseball Tournament in Minnesota. Minnoka ended up 25-1 overall for the summer.

“You’ll find answers in the desert.” – Jim Morrison

But the award tour continued leading up to the Grays third trip to Phoenix, managers Lars Larson and Joey Olson were getting frustrated they were having trouble finding extra guys to come down and help rest some starters. They were being out-recruited by the two other local teams going down and playing in the same tournament (Bruins and Mammoth) then more bad news hit as Grays 2023 MVP Jack Nelson was not joining the trip, then another starter in Fritz Coyro. Now short on depth and pitching, the Grays looked to the internet and found four desert treasures in Vince Petti, Clint Schamback, Rich Simon and a late add-on in Mike Mclaughlin. The Arizona Four helped the Grays improve their depth, and later on in the week hold a trophy.

By the time the Wolves took the field at Indian School vs Baseballism, the Grays hadn’t played a game in two months – and it showed in a 4-0 drop to the t-shirt makers. Grays had trouble with the zone in the first few innings and solid pitching from the Ism’s kept Minnoka off the board. Losing for the first time since July and shutout for the first time since 2014. One great thing about the game was Alex Gonzalez throwing a complete game to save the arms of the rest of the pitching staff. The Grays rebounded in Game 2 with a 22-4 win over the San Diego NC Brewers. Vince Petti set the tone early, throwing four innings and fanning seven. Michael Crane’s four RBI day wasn’t bad either and a team total of 19 hits. Grays finished the day 1-1 and was sitting decent, only giving up 8 runs on the day.

“Don’t poke the bear.” – Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State

Dropping an early morning game to the KC Astros 7-0 wasn’t exactly the way the Wolves wanted to start their day, even though it was a 2-0 game going into the eighth inning Minnoka’s defense finally sprang a leak and Rich Simon ran out of gas, but again helping the pitching staff by throwing a complete game. The Grays were shut out for the second time in two days and morale wasn’t that high heading into the stadium game that night versus the Long Island Panthers. It was a must-win game.

“We were a little shell-shocked. But we knew this was going to be a tough road. Everyone was throwing their aces at us, so we just had to relax and be prepared better.” said Grays manager Lars Larson

Spirits improved over rush hour traffic and were high as the palm trees as players packed into the beautiful Goodyear Ballpark, the nice confines, a re-tooled batting lineup, and confidence high with Bub Lovas starting on the mound. The Grays started out the gate with an early 5-0 lead over the Panthers, but it got chippy mid-game due to some questionable umpire calls as the dugout chatter went back and forth, the New York bravado and Minnesota nice was a toxic mix on the basepaths enough to poke the bear and really get the boys in baby blue going. The Grays responded with a fiery five more runs to take a 10-1 lead going into the seventh inning. Gonzalez’s two doubles and Lovas throwing a solid seven, along with Mark Von Ruden and Jeff Heuer closing the game helped Minnoka win the game 10-4.

The Grays were done with double headers the rest of pool play and were now even up 2-2 going into another must-win versus a familiar division foe from back home in the Bruins. Again, the game started off chippy, with the Bruins bench picking on Grays Catcher Matt Carter, but the Bears had no jokes for Clint Schambach who dominated a complete game shutout, striking out seven and only walking one. Carter also got the last laugh with a two-RBI single late in the game. Mark Von Ruden and Mike Weyrauch with three hits each, Dustin Rode scored three times and doubled for the Grays in the 15-0 no-doubter. The Wolves were sitting at 3-2 with just one pool play game left versus Lithuania.

“I’m going to win this for Reece.” – Jeff Amann

Reece Johnson was a 22-year-old pitcher who played with Jeff Amann back in St. Cloud, Minnesota with the Sartell Stone Poneys. Reece was the goofy teammate with a sense of humor that everyone on the Poneys loved. That’s why it hit extra hard when Jeff – the manager of the Poneys – got the bad news that Sunday in Arizona that Reece died by suicide. It was even worse that Jeff wasn’t home to console his teammates and the Johnson family. Instead, Amann went out and won a World Series – for Reece. With Amann’s turn on the bump, Jeff started off strong against Lithuania, only allowing one run in the first four innings while the Grays built a quick 9-1 lead. Amann pitching inspired battled for five innings and got the win, he also went 1-2 from the plate with an RBI. The other Jeff – Heuer finished off the game. “Everyone wanted to win, but we all wanted to win for Amann especially,” said Catcher Matt Carter. The Grays won 15-5 and closed pool play 4-2 and were scheduled to enter the playoffs at the fifth seed.

The Grays opened up the playoffs with a 17-4 win over Connecticut, Mike Mclaughlin pitched a gutsy complete game, eating innings to save the pitching staff. Dan Skog had five hits in the game – a single game Grays record and Joey Olson doubled and drove in four runs. Logan Pinckney had four runs and swept five bags in the first-round contest.

“Dan Skog is good at baseball!” – Mike Weyrauch

This time around the Grays faced the other Long Island team in the Twins. The 4th seeded Twins were an MSBL veteran tournament team and are one of the most respected – and feared teams at the World Series… after four innings being down 4-nil, we could see why. Things got more dramatic when starter Bub Lovas fielding an infield dribbler came up limping due to a bruised knee and had to leave the game. Vince Petti, with little notice, entered the game the next inning and pitched five brave innings to keep the Grays in the contest, Minnoka fought back in the top of the fifth with four runs highlighted by Skog’s double. The Grays scored two more off a Naha Martinez double in the seventh inning to take a 6-4 lead. The Twins fought back and tied it up all 6 in the eighth inning. The game extended into extra innings until in the top of the tenth, Gonzalez, Olson, and Crane all singled and scored runs, giving the Wolves a 9-6 lead. Skog entered the game in the ninth and closed the tenth earning the win with two innings pitched with zero runs, two strikeouts, and no walks. The Grays marched on to Saturday and had to face their league rival from back home – the Mammoth.

“Everyone was bought in, and everyone believed.” – Mark Von Ruden

The close ties between the Grays and Mammoth are difficult to explain to outsiders. The Minnesota baseball community is close, these two teams are closer and have been trading blows in the Federal League for the last three seasons, and even farther back in the TCMBAL days. With the Mammoth winning in 2021 and 2022 and the Grays winning in 2023. Lots of friends on both teams, they knew everyone’s tendencies.

But they were not ready for an inspired Mark Von Ruden, who all season was buried on the Grays pitching depth chart, getting limited innings. It’s almost like he was a secret, and he was hiding and laying low all summer just for this one game.

In his first start of the season, Von Ruden tossed six and two-thirds innings and only allowed one run. Letting the defense do the work, Von Ruden threw strikes, worked fast, and let Jon Klapperich, Skog, and Olson slowly grind down the first-seeded Mammoth lineup with their gloves not allowing a single error and turning three double plays. Von Ruden also helped himself at the plate knocking a single in the second inning and later scoring. The Wolves added a run in the fourth and a run in the seventh – leading 4-1 at that point. The game really blew open in the top of the eighth when the Grays batted around and put up 10 runs. Skog and Heuer closed the game. Martinez again came up big with three hits, and Crane and Weyrauch drove in three runs each. Nick Larson, Pinckney, Skog, and Von Ruden all had multiple hits in the blowout 14-1 win.

“These guys are friends and rivals of ours back home in Minnesota and we know how good they are. They won the MSBL World Series just two years ago themselves. Getting the win was an all-time high for me.” said Mark Von Ruden after the game.

“The depth of this team is amazing, and the maturity of this group is next level as everyone was playing for each other and not being worried about their at-bats or innings, everyone was playing for a common goal; winning that third trophy. And guys like Naha Martinez, Dustin Rode, and even Mark Von Ruden having such a great tournament and Matt Carter calling great games is just proof positive anyone on our roster can beat you and our team first formula works.” said manager Lars Larson

The Grays moved on hours later to Tempe Diablo Stadium to face the Houston Gamblers in the 2023 MSBL World Series.

“I. Will. Not. Lose.” – Jay-Z

After the summer this team had, this week this team had, the past twenty-four hours this team had – there was no way Minnoka was losing the Championship Game. Too many things were going the Grays way, too many stars were aligned, and too many good karma points built up for this not to work. They were going back to Minnesota with a trophy.

Beating the heat, the Grays were playing their tenth game in six days, things started out sloppy and the second-seeded Houston Gamblers took advantage, gaining a 4-1 lead by the end of the second inning. Minnoka kept their heads up and bounced back and scored four in the top of the third to go up by one highlighted by Von Ruden’s two-run single.

Houston and Minnoka traded runs back and forth until the Gamblers had the lead 8-7 after six innings of exhausted baseball.

Then someone spoke up on the bench. Vince Petti wanted in. “Give me the damn ball.” Even after pitching a handful of innings the day before, he wanted this win for his new friends and Petti went out and shoved throwing three innings, only allowing two hits and striking out five, and walking none. Inspired by Petti’s Rocky Balboa-like determination, the Grays bats also woke up. Scoring eight runs in the final two innings to take the lead 15-8 over Houston. Then with two outs and the ball in hand of Petti, he struck out the last Gambler looking for the third out and the win as the comeback kids piled on the mound in celebration – winning the 2023 MSBL World Series in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Minnoka Grays pulled off the trifecta. League. State. World.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team’s performance. Taking a look at the roster, every single teammate had multiple big moments and should be proud that they performed so well this week. I’ve never experienced a team who had every player clicking over a 10-game span. It was incredible to watch.” said outfielder Michael Crane.

“The selflessness of this team can’t be overlooked. Everyone gave their all towards whatever it was they were called upon to do. What I think really got us through such a grueling tournament with the championship win was that we didn’t want it, we wanted it for each other. My favorite memory of the celebration after the last out wasn’t the feeling of winning, it was watching the excitement on the faces of my teammates as they took pictures with each other. I’ll never forget it.”

Highlights/Facts

· Minnoka Grays 3rd year at the MSBL World Series but has been playing together for fourteen years playing in the TCMBAL and Federal Leagues.
· In 2023 the Grays won the Minnesota Federal League Playoffs and State Championship behind dominant pitching and great defense. That theme continued in the Grays World Series title run. Over a ten-game stretch, the Grays pitching staff only allowed 43 runs with a 3.2 ERA and held opponents to a .276 BA. In the field, the Grays turned 11 double plays and only committed 10 errors all week.
· Despite being shut out twice and starting the tournament 1-2, the Grays offense produced 117 runs while hitting .411 as a team.
· In the championship game, the Grays overcame 4-1 and 8-7 deficits
· Grays played the most games in the tournament (10) and beat the 1, 2, and 4 seeds as the 5th seed.

Dan Skog, Jon Klapperich, and Logan Pinckney each played over 85-plus innings in the field during the week.

MSBL World Series MVP Dan Skog – Wizard of OZ in the infield, turned 7 double plays at SS, pitched 7 IP, 1-0, 3.6 ERA, and batted 462 BA, 15 runs, 11 RBI, 4 SB

Mark Von Ruden – Leader of our pitching staff, turned 2 double plays from RF, threw 8 IP, 2-0, 1.03 ERA, and batted 486 BA, 13 runs, 10 RBI, 6 SB

Logan Pinckney – Anchor of the outfield and a cheetah with a glove, .538 BA, 21 H, 20 runs, 8 RBI, 9 SB