(Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com)
COLD SPRING – The Cold Spring Baseball Park has been an active construction site this spring as volunteers have worked to get the pristine, ivy-covered diamond ready for the state amateur baseball tournament in August.
It's nearly complete and will be beautiful, with a new concession stand between home plate and the first base dugout, as well as a party deck over the home-team duguout that should be a favorite spot.
"Those are going to be great seats on a nice, sunny day," Cold Spring Rockies manager Tom Ficker said. "Today wasn't exactly it."
It wasn't.
It was, however, the site of the Rockies' soggy 8-7 Central Valley League win over St. Augusta.
The victory kept Cold Spring (2-0 CVL, 2-1 overall) unbeaten in league play in a season that almost has seemed like the games are beside the point.
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Cold Spring's Reece Hemmesch (6) safely beats out the throw to St. Augusta’s Brady Grafft (22) in the third inning Sunday in Cold Spring. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com)
"It's something that we are all willing to do," said the Rockies' Rick Burtzel of all the volunteer work. "We're all so fortunate to play in this great park and in this great system that we feel like it's something we should be doing to give back.
"It (the state tournament) is going to be a lot of fun. It gives us a chance to showcase our park and our community."
Sunday during intermittent rain and drizzle, the Rockies got to showcase their pitching depth.
Blaine Athmann was scheduled to start, but couldn't get loose in warm-ups. It's something he said has happened before.
Enter Jeff Lindbloom.
"I found out 15 minutes before the game I was starting," the 39-year-old right-hander said, noting: "That's fine."
He gave it his best, leaving in the fourth and with St. Augusta up 5-0.
Next up was Tyler McElwee.
Haven't heard of him? He's an 18-year-old Rocori High School graduate who doesn't play for the Spartans. The right-hander went six innings, allowing three hits and one earned run.
St. Augusta Gussies shortstop Nate Gwost (28) fires the ball to first base in the fourth inning Sunday against the Cold Spring Rockies in Cold Spring. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com)
He has a good fastball that's all over the place. He struck out four, walked six and hit four batters.
"I thought I was in short relief, maybe going three innings," said McElwee, who was used sparingly in 2014 and whose main experience before this amateur season was playing for the Minnesota Swat elite youth travel team in Monticello.
His much-needed performance was enough to enable the Rockies to get back into it against the Gussies (2-5, 4-7).
Cold Spring scored three in the third and five more in the eighth.
The key blows were RBI singles by Ryan Bell and Marshall Wirtzfeld in the third. In the fourth, the Rockies had five hits, getting RBI singles from Paul Schreiner and Bell.
St. Augusta didn't help matters with three errors. The Gussies are ailing a bit, too. Work-horse left-hander Zach Laudenbach, the Gussies' manager this season, hasn't thrown in 10 days because of a sore elbow.
Dusty Schulzetenberg, the veteran shortstop, also is out with a bad elbow.
"I'll be back," Schulzetenberg said.
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Cold Spring Rockies players celebrate the go-ahead run in the fourth inning, putting them up 7-6 over the St. Augusta Gussies on Sunday in Cold Spring. (Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com)
Tyson Euerle, a key winter signing, has had knee surgery and won't be available until later in the summer.
The Gussies have had to improvise. Nate Laudenbach, the former St. Cloud State outfielder, went the distance in an 11-inning loss to Eden Valley on Friday night. Laudenbach said it was the most he has thrown since his days at Tech.
Travis Laudenbach went the distance Sunday, striking out five, walking four and allowing 12 hits.
"We started out hot again and then we left too many guys on base," Zach Laudenbach said, noting the Gussies left 12 runners on base after leaving 16 on at Eden Valley.
There were some highlights for St. Augusta, which is a veteran team coming off a 2014 state tournament appearance.
Center fielder Marcus Lommel went 3-for-3 with a double, a run, two RBI, two walks, a hit-by-pitch and two stolen bases.
"It was tough conditions out there," Lommel said. "But we played through them.
"You've got to still make the plays and we didn't."
The Gussies tailed 8-6 heading into the eighth. Nate Gwost, playing shortstop, led off with a walk and went to second when Aaron Fruth was hit by a pitch. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch.
McElwee pitched out of the jam.
In the ninth, Lommel led off with a single and stole second. After one out, Brady Grafft walked. Nate Laudenbach then smacked a hard grounder to Wirtzfeld, the Rockies' third baseman.
He tagged third, then threw out Laudenbach at first.
"It's nice to have the younger guys making contributions," said Burtzel, who is 33. "Tyler (McElwee) did a nice job for us in a couple tight spots last year, too."
ST. AUGUSTA – Zach Laudenbach 1-4 R BB, Marcus Lommel 3-3 R 2B RBI-2 BB-2 HBP SB-2, Adam Gwost 1-4 BB HBP, Nate Laudenbach 1-6, Nate Gwost 2-3 R-2 2B-2 RBI BB HBP, Aaron Fruth 1-4 R-2 HBP, Michael Laudenbach 0-3 R BB-2, Matt Skaja 13 RBI-2 BB SF SB; LP-Travis Laudenbach IP-8 H-12 R-8 ER-5 BB-4 SO-5.
COLD SPRING – Mike Holbrook 1-4 R, Dylan TeBrake 1-1, Mike Ficker 1-4 R-2 HBP, David Jonas 1-5, Rick Burtzel 2-3 BB, Keaton Ficker R, Paul Schreiner 1-3 R-2 RBI BB HBP, Ryan Bell 2-4 R-2 RBI-2 SAC SB, Marshall Wirtzfeld 2-4 RBI-2, Reece Hemmesch 1-4 RBI SB; ST-Jeff Linbloom IP-3 H-7 R-6 ER-4 BB-4 SO-0, WP-Tyler McElwee IP-6 H-3 R-1 ER-1 BB-6 SO-4.
Tom Elliott, telliott@stcloudtimes.com 8:57 p.m. CDT May 24, 2015