St. Croix Base Ball Club

The captain’s official game account:

The St. Croix Base Ball Club played the Afton Red Socks at Pettit Park in Lake St. Croix Beach on Saturday, May 2nd before an enthusiastic crowd.

Umpire Jody “Sidewinder” Ebnet called the two captains to home base where the toss of the stone was done to decide which club will strike first. The visiting captain of the St. Croix Club called the toss correctly and Captain Brent “Skinny” Peterson elected to have his club strike first.

The excitement of a new season brought out the best for the St. Croix strikers. Strong hitting in the first inning led to the St. Croixs scoring 6 aces and each man on the club had an at bat. The St. Croixs also proved worthy in the field with second baseman Patrick “Portsider” Pfundstein making two fine fielding plays for outs during the Afton half of the first inning. Afton was not able to tally a single ace during their at bats.

The St. Croixs continued the hard hitting in their second tallying another seven aces, while the Afton club struggled to find their hitting shoes and again were shutout in their half of the inning.

The visiting St. Croix Club would tally at least once in every inning and the Afton Club finally found their stride in the eighth and ninth innings when they tallied once in each inning.

Some of the fielding highlights for both clubs were when Ollie “Catfish” Wier made a leaping one handed catch at third base and then stepped on the base forcing another St. Croix base runner making two outs on one play. For the St. Croixs center fielder Marty “Squirrel” Jurek made some exciting running one handed put outs of the Afton strikers.

The hitting honors go to St. Croix player Leon “French Revolution” Lelign who crushed the ball several times sending the sphere over the fence and into the adjoining property. He also tallied five aces for the club. Dan “Basher” Cagley tallied five aces and Mr. Jurek and Adam “Meister” Smith tallied four times each.

The final score of the match was the St. Croix BBC 28 and the Afton BBC 2.

Quentin “Rock” Wittrock leads off the match for the St. Croix BBC

Marty “Squirrel” Jurek stands at Second base after a well struck ball.

Erik “Sugar” Sjogren takes a mighty swing.

Mr. Wittrock plays at the third base as Dan “Basher” Cagley plays shortstop for the St. Croix BBC

“Kid” Liberty pitching for the St. Croix nine.

The captain’s official game account:

The Saint Croix Base Ball Club began their 2009 season at Midway Stadium in St. Paul against a combined St. Paul Saints and celebrity contingent on February 28th.

The match began with the sound of the St. Croix player Liberty singing the Star Spangled Banner which is the custom of the home club. The umpire for the match was Mr. Tholkes and with a tossing of the stone at home base to determine who would strike first, the Captain of the St. Croix’s, Mr. Peterson, correctly called the toss and elected to have his club strike first.

The first inning saw both clubs getting used to the footing and striking conditions that several inches of powder snow makes on the playing field. No aces were made by either club.

The second inning had the St. Croix’s again scoring with no aces in their half of the inning but the strong hitters of the Saints came to strike and were able to tally twice in the inning. In the third, the St. Croix’s countered with two aces of their own with strong hitting and some fancy base running, with Mr. LaVigne and Mr. Sjogren tallying for the St. Croix’s.

The St. Paul club tallied two more runs in their third, again taking the lead in the match by the score of 4 to 2. The St. Croix’s again had some fine base hits and were able to take advantage of several miscues by the fielders and had Mr. Robinson and Mr. Maurer tally to tie the score at four each.

The rest of the match featured several fine outs on the fly by both clubs. In the final inning the St. Paul club had a man on every base and there were two hands down. One of the Saints strongest hitters was at the bat but lofted a soft fly to the left field where it was securely caught.

The match was ended after the fifth inning as previously agreed upon by the captains of both clubs.

The several thousand cranks that were on hand to witness the spectacle believed it to be one of the finest matches of ball they had witnessed this season and it is hoped by all that another match will take place in the future.

The final score was 4 aces for the St. Paul Saints and 4 aces for the St. Croix Base Ball Club.

Members of the St. Croix and Quicksteps Base Ball Club pose with the Twins Mascot, TC Bear.

Clubs line up before the start of the match

Marty “Squirrel” Jurek starts out the match for the St. Croix BBC

St. Paul Saints honorary captain for the match, Lee Valsvik, at the line to strike.

St. Croix BBC in the field.  Erik “Sugar” Sjogren at the first base.

Minnesota Twins mascot T.C. Bear at the line to strike.