Where's the pot of gold?

In a game that featured three rain showers in a weather shortened five inning game, it was mostly rain for Waterloo, but it was rainbows for Monona.

Monona beat Waterloo 14-5 to improve to 2-0 in the Eastern section of the Home Talent League.

A Norse victory

Friday marked the first of many important festival games on the Home Talent League schedule as Stoughton hosted rival Utica during the town’s annual Syttende Mai celebration.

The baseball game was just one of several events taking place in the Madison suburb that celebrates the Norweigan Constitution Day every year on the weekend closest to the seventeenth of May. And that’s exactly what “Syttende Mai” translates into in English, the seventeenth of May.

In fact, just about the time Stoughton was finished taking their pre-game infield practice before the game, the Norse Canoe Race was taking place downtown in Stoughton’s Division Street Park.

People would be crowded on the banks of the Yahara River to cheer on the convoy of canoes just about to prepare for the portage portion of the race.

When he was a little bit younger, Stoughton’s Scott Muehlemann was one of crazies taking part in the canoe race. Now he’s manning second base for the Merchants.

“I remember being in the canoe race one year with a friend of mine,” said Muehlemann. “That was in eighth grade. Now, unfortunately, I live out of town so I don’t get a chance to live it up too much.”

Syttende Mai is the major social event of the year in Stoughton. Almost everyone in town seems to participate in the pageantry somehow. For some it’s braving the cool spring waters on a canoe. For others is taking part in a Rosemaling exhibition. Even the youngsters get involved.

“I remember being in it when I was really, really young,” recalls Muehlemann. “They dressed me up in some Norweigan outfit even though I’m German. And they threw me out there in the parade one year.”

Nowadays Muehlemann is doing his best just trying to beat Utica, the opposing team every year during Syttende Mai weekend.

For the sake of comparison, it’s kind of like Green Bay versus Minnesota in professional football. Except Stoughton are the Vikings, naturally.

“Most of (Utica’s) players are from Stoughton, too,” explains Stoughton manager Jim Winter. “So there’s a natural built-in competitiveness. We play them here, and then we play them at their festival, Utica Fest, which is the first weekend in August, which is the last regular season game of the year.”

Stoughton catcher Marc Movrich has seen the game from both dugouts. He played for Utica for seven years, but after moving away from the area and since moving back, he’s joined his hometown Stoughton Merchants.

“I’ve been playing in the Syttende Mai game either when I’ve been playing for Stoughton or Utica since I was a junior in high school,” explains Movrich. “It’s been a lot of fun, and it’s definitely I think one of the bigger rivalries in Home Talent between the Stoughton and Utica teams.”

However, it’s been a rivalry that hasn’t meant much for the Merchants lately.

“This is my seventh year coaching, and we’ve only beaten Utica once on Syttende Mai,” explains Winter. “And it wasn’t actually on Syttende Mai night. It was a rain out makeup where we beat them. So we’ve always struggled in this game.”

But Friday was different. Behind both the pitching and hitting of former Wiota standout Ryan Van Haden (pictured), the Merchants were able to down Utica 12-8.

Van Haden went six strong innings for Stoughton while notching four strikeouts and earning the win. He was just as effective at the plate going three for four with two doubles. Two of those three hits banged off the outfield fence.

Performances like that just might make Stoughton a tough team to beat when they play the return game at the Utica Festival when a playoff berth could be on the line. But no matter what happens, they can take solace in the 2008 Syttende Mai victory.

“We always tend to get really tense, really tight in this game,” said Winter. “So yeah, to win this game is very important.”

Next weekend’s Home Talent League road trip: Deerfield at Evansville on Memorial Day. Free hot dog and soda for the first 500 fans!

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

Dodgeville pitcher gets pro attention

In just a matter of weeks, Dodgeville pitching phenom Danny Sullivan will be transitioning from high school baseball to facing some of the best adult amateur players in the area in the Home Talent League.

That’s merely a hop compared to the quantum leap he could be making if he gets selected in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft. Sullivan is being courted by several MLB teams, and it’s possible he could be a mid-round draft choice when the draft gets underway on June 5th.

“Right now I’ve been talking to some pro scouts, and they’ve been coming to a couple games,” said Sullivan. “The draft is in early June, so I’m just waiting to see what happens there.”

The Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds are among the teams that have scouted Sullivan and could possibly draft him.

But even if the Brewers, just for example, draft Sullivan, it doesn’t mean he’ll be sitting in the dugout next to Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun anytime soon.

It’s not quite as simple as that. The baseball draft doesn’t exactly resemble that of the more popular drafts for the NFL or the NBA.

The players who get drafted in the NFL are superstars well before they get to the professional game. They’ve made a name for themselves playing college football. And football has a rule where athletes have to be at least three years out of high school before they get drafted.

In the past, teams in the NBA were allowed to draft kids just out of high school. Now they have to be at least one year removed. And with only two rounds in the NBA draft, only about 60 some players get drafted at all.

Baseball is a different beast altogether. First of all, there are 50 rounds. It’s a necessity that teams stock their multiple minor league farm teams with good, young talent. Even relatively obscure high school players who aren’t well known outside their conference get drafted with regularity.

But if a player like Sullivan gets drafted, there’s no guarantee he’s going to sign a contract with any team that drafts him.

Only if he gets an offer he can’t refuse, will Sullivan sign on with a Major League team. In fact, Danny has a backup plan.

“He definitely is going to go to Hill College and play,” explains father Bob Sullivan.

Hill College is a two year junior college located in Texas, where Danny plans to matriculate this fall. And that suits him just fine.

In both football and basketball, junior college is seen as a place where maybe an athlete can’t cut it at the Division I level, but that’s not the case with baseball.

At a four year institution, a player might be asked to sit the bench while he develops in an effort to contribute his junior and senior years. At a two year school, an athlete will play right away. There’s no time to wait.

“The coach is the main reason I’m going there,” said Danny. “His philosophy is to gain three to five miles per hour within your first year. And down south, there’s the University of Texas, there’s Baylor, there’s Texas Tech. You’ve got your big schools, and a lot of scouts are down in Texas. There’s areas where the Yankees come and watch you, and big time teams come and watch you.”

Danny estimates he’s already throwing somewhere in the range of an 89 to 91 mph fastball. Add three to five mph to that, and his arm will be major league ready.

If Danny does happen to get drafted, he may decline the opportunity in hopes that he will be an even higher draft choice in the future. In baseball, it’s not uncommon to be drafted two years in a row.

Players enrolled in a two year college can be drafted in either their first or second year, while players enrolled in four year schools can’t be drafted until after their junior year. That’s just another reason Danny and his family has made the choices they’ve made.

In the meantime, Danny will be focusing on finishing his senior year of high school in both the classroom and on the ball diamond. The Home Talent League is on the horizon this summer, and the unknown is beyond that.

“I’m very excited to see what’s going to happen,” said Danny.

This weekend’s Home Talent League road trip: Utica at Stoughton on Friday May 16 at 7:00 for the Norwegian Syttende Mai Festival

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

No-no deserves a thumbs up

Argyle started off their season in dramatic fashion with a no-hitter.

Ben Wallace and Jarret Baumann combined to no hit Blanchardville and strike out 15 batters in what would lead to a 3-0 victory.

Wallace started the game and went five innings, where going the distance would be a daunting task so early in the season. Baumann came in relief and got the save to preserve the no-no.

The performance deserves two thumbs up. One for Ben, and one for Jarret. Congrats, guys!

Monona's bats come alive

Defending Home Talent League champion Monona had to wait a week to get its season underway, but the week off didn’t seem to hurt. They got past Rio on Sunday by a score of 12-2.

The rest of the Eastern section got their season underway seven days earlier, but Monona was forced to postpone their game at Waterloo due to a wet field with the diamond being so close to the Maunesha River. Thus, their opening day was pushed back to May 4th.

Being the defending champions and with several players back, Monona is sure to be a favorite once again. They don’t figure to have many weaknesses in their game, but if their performance in an exhibition tournament in Fort Atkinson in mid-April was any indication, scoring runs might be an issue.

Monona lost both games that weekend by a combined score of 14-4. They lost to host Fort Atkinson in the opening game 5-4, although they took a 5-0 deficit into the last inning. And in the consolation game they lost 9-0 to Middleton. Not exactly the type of production you’d expect from the last year’s grand champions. And not exactly the type of performance you’d want to carry into the regular season.

Now that the games count, forget any concerns about scoring runs. Veteran Monona manager Greg Strangstalien explains there was a good reason the team didn’t put many tallies on the board in the pre-season. Up to five guys who would be regularly in the lineup were missing at some point that weekend. Three of them were still in the midst of their season playing for Edgewood College in Madison.

“We know that while they’re at college, they’re swinging the bat,” said Strangstalien. “So once they come back, they’re going to be in mid-season form. It’s just the other guys that haven’t played as much, they know they have to pick it up.”

And pick it up they did. With the game complete after seven innings because of a 10 run lead, Monona put up plenty of runs highlighted by homeruns by both third baseman Alex Bauer and catcher Shawn Burcum.

And once some of those missing players return that Strangstalien hinted at earlier, the lineup should have even more potency. And it won’t take that long. On the same day that Monona started their season, Edgewood College ended theirs.

Edgewood failed to qualify for the Northern Athletics Conference playoffs, which means that Dan “Boomer” Gugel will be eligible to play next week for Monona. Gugel was the Eastern section’s leading hitter a season ago with a .467 batting average.

So while Strangstalien was, no doubt, rooting for some of his collegiate players to succeed, you can’t blame him if there was some small part of him that didn’t see it as a total loss.

“This is a different team,” said Strangstalien after the victory over Rio. “We have most of our starters. We’re still missing one, but most of our starters are here today. And these guys have been around long enough that when it’s time to play, they’re ready to play.”

The offensive jolt was certainly a welcome addition for starting pitcher Zac Najacht.

“It’s great to come out the first game and see the guys hit the ball like that, definitely,” said Najacht. “It’s nice to jump on a team in the first inning when you’re pitching, and it feels good to get some run support right away.”

As last year’s playoff co-MVP as a pitcher, Najacht knows a thing or two about run support. And he’ll be jonesing for more of it as the season goes along.

Pictured: Third baseman Alex Bauer is congratulated after his homerun

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

Gross twins wreak havoc on league

Sun Prairie manager Scott Knorr almost had to suit up and play at Sunday’s Home Talent League Eastern section opening day game at Marshall. In fact, Knorr didn’t even get the chance to hit the usual infield practice to his players before the game was about to begin. He, himself, had to take some grounders at second base in case he had to play.

Fortunately enough, a ninth player showed up minutes before the opening pitch. There was no need to sweat, though. Knorr had the Gross twins, Adam and Aaron, with him all along. Combined, they almost account for three players.

Considered as two of the better players in the Home Talent League, the Gross brothers have been terrorizing opponents for years. They both pitch. Aaron’s a lefty, Adam’s a righty. And one will often enter the game in relief of the other.

And it’s not like they sit in the dugout when they’re not pitching. They’ll play some combination of outfield or first base when they’re not on the mound.

They would end up losing the opening day game, but that marked Marshall player/manager Todd Grossman’s first win versus Sun Prairie in 13 years of Home Talent play.

“They both throw really well,” said Grossman. “They’re very accurate, and they keep you on your toes. They’ll throw you inside, outside, up and down. They keep you unbalanced as a hitter. But they’re going to throw strikes. You just have to hit it. They’re one of the tougher ones in the league. And they’re good hitters too.”

It wasn’t that long ago that the Gross twins led Sun Prairie to a league title. Knorr was lucky enough to be coaching Adam and Aaron back in 2005 when they won it all. And he probably couldn’t have done it without them.

“Adam definitely was (one of the better players in the league) the year we won it,” explains Knorr. “He was probably one of the top five pitchers in the league if not the top.

“That year (Aaron) was our backup. Last year he was our primary because Adam was hurt. But Aaron is very capable. He would be a starter on a lot of teams.”

Success is something they’re used to. Even before they started playing amateur baseball, they led Sun Prairie to a state championship back in high school.

But the days of the Gross brothers making a menace to the rest of the league might come to an end sooner rather than later. Don’t be fooled, they’re still very capable. It’s just that they’re 28 years old, and they’re both fathers now. And they’ve got that Home Talent title under their belts to help them rest easy. There’s no unfinished business to take care of.

At least for the moment being, teams like Marshall will still be worrying about how to attack the Gross twins.

“I feel like I can still play at a competitive level,” said Adam.

“I feel that I don’t want to hang it up until I can’t be competitive anymore,” echoed Aaron, “and until I see that there’s young guys that need to be playing more.

“We don’t have too many young ones yet, though. I’m starting to worry. I ain’t getting any younger,” laughed Aaron as he realized he might have to be sticking around a little bit longer.

That’s bad news for the rest of the Home Talent League.

Pictured: Adam Gross

Photo credit: Brian Carriveau

Jefferson gains momentum

I'll admit, my knowledge of Home Talent baseball is limited as of yet. I'm learning a lot all the time, but I still have a long ways to go.

But if you would have asked me who would have won last weekend's Fort Atkinson exhibition tournament, the last team I would have said is Jefferson.

Just look at the teams the tournament boasted.

Monona was last year's Home Talent League grand champions.

Fort Atkinson was undefeated in regular season play a year ago.

And Middleton won the East Division of the Northern Section with a 15-1 record.

Those are no slouches. And Jefferson got by them all to win the tournament. Congratulations to the Blue Devils as they enter the regular season on a high note.