2026 Rats Capture ‘Three-Peat’ in 27+ Division of Red River Adult Baseball League

Red River Adult Baseball League, 27+ Division

Red River Rats 12, Minden Redbirds 2

‘Rats Capture ‘Three-Peat’ Championship’

Submitted by Zane Nipper, 24th year in MSBL, ninth year as head coach  

The Redbirds beat the Rats two games out of three in regular season play, with a ‘lights-out’ in one game that forced a tie. These internet-connected timed lights sometimes just go off, and that’s that. Somebody asked if anyone had a glow baseball, but that was a definite no, so we decided to take a tie and not flip a coin.  We couldn’t see anything anyway. It was so dark in a split second.

The championship was a lackluster game once again, as it was last year. In both championship games of the past two years, the Rats dominated with their starting pitching. Last year, Blake Morgan, who now plays for the Firefighters in the Banana League, dominated the Redbirds and had five hits of his own in that win.

This year, though, the Rats had a losing season. It was really a weird year. The record didn’t show how good we were, with four of our losses by less than two runs. The Rats beat the best team in the 18+ league, the 2026 Champions Trash Pandas, 4-2, led by a complete-game one-hitter by Jose Leonardo Hernandez.

He was pitching a perfect game into the eighth when a Panda hit a bloop over third base. He led the Rats in innings pitched all year. He is also the 2026 League MVP.

Colby Martin, the starting pitcher, was the Championship MVP. He had a complete-game win. He batted sixth with two hits and was the most improved hitter of the year, hitting over .400. He easily could have been the league MVP.

This makes 11 championships since 2002. Last year it was 10 and not 11, a correction found this year. The Red River Rats finished a ‘3-peat’ this year. 2024, 2025, 2026, and are shooting for a fourth straight next year. The Rats are looking forward to MSBL IN 2026!