2008 Baseball Season

FIGHTING ROZMANS 10, RUMBLING REYERSONS 9
Our Opening Night was worth the wait, and the game could not have been closer without ending in a tie. We had some nice hits and a web gem or two in the field. All in all, exactly what a coach wants out of his team: play hard, get dirty, shake hands after. If we do that all summer, we’ll win a mess of games and have a ton of fun.
(5/09)

FIGHTING ROZMANS 10, RUMBLING REYERSONS 8
The Fighting Rozmans did it again, scoring 4 runs in a furious last inning rally for a come from behind 10-8 victory. Sean, Martin and Bud each had 2 hits for our guys, and Jesse and Tim recorded their first hits of the season. Another close one, and we came out on the short end again, but that will make the first win of the season all the sweeter.
(5/13)

TOURNAMENT TEAM GOES 0-3 @ SLP SLUGFEST
12 of our boys got their first taste of tournament play at Slugfest this weekend. As an emergency replacement for a Chaska team that dropped out last Monday, we landed in a pretty tough pool and got roughed up a bit in our first two games, losing by scores of 27-1 to Eagan and 17-1 to Brooklyn Park . Saturday afternoon the guys really put it together and played a real good team from Champlin pretty much even steven. The final score of 7-2 is not a good indicator of how close the game was and how well the boys played. All in all, I thought it was a good experience for the guys and will only make us better for league play this summer.
(5/19)

Good Day Cafe 11, Edina Giants 10
First win of the year!
A bases loaded walk to Billy Bird forced home Raymond Stonacek to give Good Day Cafe a thrilling 11-10 win over the Edina Giants at chilly Carlson Field Monday night. The win is Good Day's first of the year after opening the season with 2 narrow losses. Good Day exploded for 10 in the 2nd inning to take a 10-2 lead, but Edina chipped away with a few hits in between some home team miscues. The lead finally evaporated with a final Edina rally in the 7th, but Good Day broke the tie in the bottom half without getting a hit. The Giant reliever walked 4 straight, and Raymond trotted home, making a winner out of pitcher Josh Ruud, who recorded the final 6 outs of the game. Starting pitcher Martin Schlegel-Wiener had 2 hits in the winning effort, and Collin Reyerson, Tim Prohofsky, Billy Bird, Bud Evers, Jake Omodt and Trent Walsh all had hits in the 10-run 2nd inning. Super-Sub Billy Bird also made the play of the day, knocking down and infield grounder and throwing out the batter from his knees to snuff out a 5th inning Giant rally. Good Day Café will try to get back to .500 on Wednesday with a game at Edina , under the lights at 8:00. No official word yet on if John Delke’s dad John will come with the ultra-cool vintage 1948 Cleveland Indians jersey, but he did last night and I think it helped some! When you’re 0-2, you’ll take all the karma you can get!
(5/20)

Good Day Cafe 15, Edina A’s 7
Schlegel-Wiener slam sinks Edina
For folks who do not follow SLP baseball, a Schlegel-Wiener slam may sound like something you get off the breakfast menu at Denny’s, but for us, it was the big blow in Good Day Café’s convincing 15-7 victory over Edina last night at Braemar. Martin Schlegel-Wiener’s 2nd inning blast came with the sacks full and broke a 6-0 game wide open, but was just part of the offensive story for Good Day Café. There were 11 hits in all, including 2 each by Nolan Rockers, Sean Gordon and Collin Reyerson. 9 of the 10 boys scored and everybody reached base at least once. Defensively, the boys showed real improvement, with Trent Walsh, Raymond Stonacek, John Delke and Nolan Rockers all making nice plays in the field to hold Edina ’s offense in check. 4 pitchers worked the game, striking out 12 Edina batters, and Good Day Café heads into the Memorial Day break with a 2-2 record. NICE GAME GUYS!
(5/22)

Citizens Bank 5, Good Day Cafe 2
Citizens strikes early, holds on to stay perfect

After retiring Good Day Cafe in order to start the game, Citizens raced to a quick lead in the bottom half, parlaying 4 hits, 2 walks and a couple of errors into 5 runs. It was all they would get, but all they would need in a 5-2 victory between the raindrops at Paul Frank last night.

4 Citizens pitchers held the Good Day Café offensive machine in check for most of the night. After roaring into the Memorial Day break with 26 runs in two wins vs. Edina teams, Good Day Cafe (2-3) managed just 2 hits and 6 walks. Citizens right-hander Mitchell Rotert pitched out of a jam in the 5th, recording a couple of key strikeouts and stranding 3 baserunners, and Mitchell Thomas pitched 2 scoreless innings to close it out, striking out 3.

After the wobbly start, Good Day Café’s pitching and defense took over. Martin Schlegel-Wiener, Sean Gordon and Nolan Rockers combined for 5 scoreless innings. "Double Play" Ray Stonacek, Tim Prohofsky, and Jesse Ewaldt all made nice plays in the field to keep Citizens Bank stuck at 5.

With the loss, Good Day Cafe's winning streak is over at 2, and its next win against Citizens will be the first one. The cross-town rivals meet again Saturday at Carlson. First pitch scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
(5/30)

Citizens Bank 14, Good Day Cafe 6
Citizens continues mastery over Good Day
Citizens Bank scored in each of the first 4 innings and extended it winning streak to 5 games with a 14-6 win over crosstown rival Good Day Café on Saturday at Carlson Field. Good Day’s offensive showing was an improvement over Thursday’s 5-2 loss, but they were still sluggish, running into 3 outs at home plate and stranding 6 runners over 5 innings. On the mound, Good Day Café (2-4) worked 6 pitchers on Saturday and struggled with a tight strike zone, issuing 8 bases on balls. Righthander Josh Ruud pitched a very efficient inning of scoreless relief, retiring the side in order in the 5th inning. The play of the day was a diving catch of a sinking liner by rightfielder Trent Walsh. The catch saved at least two runs and ended the inning with the bases full of Citizens. Good Day Café will get one last crack at Citizens this coming Wednesday at Paul Frank (6:00), but first, it’s off to Richfield this evening for the second road game of the year.
(6/02)

Richfield 8, Good Day Cafe 2
Good Day battles, falls short in Richfield
Good Day Cafe responded to a weekend walloping at the hand of Citizens Bank with a much better effort in its second road game of the season, battling a very skilled Richfield team but losing 8-2 Monday night. The bats were quiet again, with RBI knocks by Bud Evers and Jake Omodt accounting for all the offense. The lower end of the order coaxed some walks off Richfield pitching, but the key hit from the top of the order never came. The lack of run support put pressure on the pitching and defense, but Good Day rose to the challenge and kept it close until a 4 run 6th broke it open for Richfield . Relievers Nolan Rockers, Collin Reyerson and Josh Ruud worked the middle 4 innings, allowing just one run between them, and the play of the day came from second baseman Tim Prohofsky, who scrambled to his right and threw a Richfield batter out by an eyelash to cut short a 4th inning rally. Now 2-5 on the season, Good Day Café will get another crack at Citizens Wednesday at Paul Frank (6:00).
(6/03)

Citizens Bank 20, Good Day Cafe 4
Another Citizens uprising
Some sloppy play in the field spelled for Good Day Café in a 20-4 loss to Citizens Bank last night at Paul Frank. Citizens needed only 8 hits to plate 20 runs, but they also benefited from 9 bases on balls and numerous errors and passed balls. Nolan Rockers and Trent Walsh had back to back doubles in a 3 run 6th inning, and “Double Play Ray” Stonacek and Josh Ruud both had nice hits, but in the end, it just wasn’t Good Day’s night out there. Good Day Café (2-6) will host Richfield Monday night at Paul Frank. First pitch at 6:00.
(6/03)

Richfield 11, Good Day Café 5
Good Day battles, falls short, skid reaches 5
Still struggling to find the pre-Memorial Day offensive mojo, Good Day Cafe battled a tough Richfield team for 7 innings but lost 11-5 last night at Paul Frank. Josh Ruud had 2 of the 6 Good Day hits, all singles, and Tim “Scrap Iron” Prohofsky's RBI groundout started the scoring in the 3rd inning. The game was close early thanks to some sharp pitching by Nolan “Rocket Man” Rockers and Sean Gordon, but the Richfield bats came to life in the 5th, twice splitting the outfielders and chasing home 4 runs. They would add 4 more in the last 2 innings, and a 3 run Good Day rally in the bottom of the 7th was not enough. With the loss, Good Day’s record falls for 2-7, and they’re off to Robbinsdale on Thursday with a game under the lights at 8:00.

I'm not a fan of the term "moral victory", but I can tell you that we took away plenty of positives in spite of the loss. We gave away far fewer bases and outs than in previous games. We made the vast majority of the plays that needed to be made. We made crisp, purposeful throws from all over the field. Jesse Ewaldt played 7 (seven!) consecutive innings in right field and never hung his head once. John Delke got a 2 out, 2 strike hit when we absolutely had to have it. We backed up bases, we ran out all grounders and pop-ups. Chatter, toughness, hustle, teamwork....ALL THE STUFF that successful baseball players do all the time. We showed a lot of it last night.
(6/10)

Robbinsdale 14, Good Day Café 6
Rebels rally, extend Good Day skid to 6
In a tale of two games, Good Day Café started right, but Robbinsdale rallied in the final 2 innings to post a 14-6 victory under the lights in New Hope last night. On offense, Bud Evers, Trent Walsh, “Double Play Ray” Stonacek and Jesse Ewaldt all posted runs batted in, as Good Day Café used 4 hits and 7 bases on balls to tally their 6 runs. Nolan Rockers pitched 3 strong innings to start the game, and was assisted by 2 double plays, but the Rebel bats started finding some holes as the game wore on, sending home 12 runs in the final 2 innings before the umpire called the game at 10:15. Now 2-8 on the season, Good Day Café travels to Richfield Monday night for the first of 3 games next week.
(6/18)

Richfield Tournament Update
Comeback Kids strike twice on Saturday, advance to semi-finals
Sean Gordon's 7th inning RBI single broke a 7-7 deadlock and capped a furious 2 out Oriole rally, sending St. Louis Park to the semi-finals of the Richfield tournament with an 8-7 win over Bloomington. Gordon's walk-off hit was a nice finishing touch on a day where SLP twice erased big deficits in their final at-bat, triggering a thunderous home plate celebration.

SLP held a 4-3 lead after 5 strong innings of pitching by righthander Mitchell Thomas, but Bloomington parlayed 4 hits and a couple walks into 4 runs to take a 7-4 lead. In the top of the 7th, Bloomington had something going again when Park turned a tasty 5-4-3 double play, and Alex Rozman made a diving catch of a sinking line drive. In the bottom half, John Delke, Mitch Rotert and Collin Reyerson each had clutch 2 out singles to extend the game and set the stage for Gordon.

The Saturday magic actually began much earlier in the day, with SLP mounting a 7th inning rally to tie Princeton 9-9. The first 6 Orioles to bat in the 7th all scored, and SLP, wiped out a 9-3 Princeton lead. Nolan Rockers and Trent Walsh each went 2 for 3. SLP takes a record of 1-1-1 to the semi-finals, earning a #2 seed over Princeton by merit of the "runs allowed" tie-breaker criteria (28-27).
(6/21)

Good Day Café 14, Richfield 4
Bats come to life, Good Day rolls
Good Day Cafe jumped on their opponent early and never looked back in a 14-4 romp over Richfield last night at Donaldson Park . Pretty much everybody got into the act, with 11 of the 12 boys reaching 1st base at least once, as Good Day outhit Richfield 12-3. The bottom of the order really got into it, with “Double Play Ray” Stonacek and Jesse Ewaldt each knocking in 2 runs with nice singles. Tim “Scrap Iron” Prohofsky and John Delke each drove in a run as well. Bud Evers legged out a triple into the gap in right field, and Martin Schlegel-Wiener cleared the based in the 6th with a towering double. Nolan “Rocket Man” Rockers tossed 3 scoreless innings for the win. Good Day Café improves to 3-8 on the season and hosts Robbinsdale this evening at Paul Frank. First pitch at 6:00 p.m.
(6/24)

New Hope 6, Good Day Café 1
No clutch knocks for Good Day; New Hope wins
Apparently having used up all their hits two nights ago in Richfield , Good Day Cafe scratched out only 4 hits in a 6-1 loss to New Hope last night at Paul Frank. Sean Gordon doubled in Collin Reyerson, who singled to lead off the 7th, for the lone Good Day run. Trent Walsh and Bud Evers kept their hot bats working with the other two Good Day Hits. Good Day had opportunities in the 4th and 5th, but stranded 5 runners over those two innings. Martin Schlegel-Wiener tossed 3 strong innings in his longest outing of the season, and Gordon and Nolan Rockers were effective in relief to keep it close. Now 3-9 on the season, Good Day will get another shot at a Robbinsdale team tomorrow night at Paul Frank. 1st pitch 6:00.
(6/25)

Robbinsdale 18, Good day Café 1
One of those nights
Tough night for the hometown team, as Robbinsdale pounded out 12 hits and drew 12 walks en route to a convincing 18-1 win last night at Paul Frank Field. Good Day (3-10) scratched out only 4 singles and Robbinsdale was awarded the win after the 5th inning by the 10 Run Rule. Tim Prohofsky made his debut on the mound last night, struggled with the strike zone a little (like most new pitchers do), but recorded 3 outs. Bud Evers put on the gear for the first time this season and showed good skills behind the plate for a couple of innings. Overall, I was disappointed to see the boys play like that with so many family members watching last night, but we’ll write it off as one of those games. It was a good Robbinsdale team we played, but not 18-1 good. Very poor effort from the guys last night.
(6/28)

Richfield 20, Good Day Cafe 17
Richfield explodes, then escapes
In an exciting but very "messy" game of 13-year old baseball, Richfield rode a 10-run 4th inning and hung on for a 20-17 win at Paul Frank last night. Good Day Cafe (3-11) matched Richfield rally for rally, but couldn't overcome the disastrous 4th inning. Offensively, the hits and walks came from everywhere in the lineup, with all 12 boys reaching 1st base at least once, and 9 of them reaching twice. Bud Evers, Nolan Rockers, Trent Walsh and "Double Play Ray" Stonacek accounted for 8 of the 13 Good Day hits with 2 each. Trent ’s hits, a blistering double and a sharp single, were good for 3 RBIs. On the mound, our guys threw better than their lines will indicate, but some errors in the field and a tiny strike zone that never stopped moving the whole game didn't help matters. In the end, Richfield was just as sloppy as we were, but they had a few more big hits that provided the margin of victory. Tonight's game ball goes to Unofficial Official Scorekeeper Jeff Prohofsky, who somehow managed to navigate through all the passed balls and pickoffs and keep track of things! 37 runs, 29 hits, 17 walks. One pencil. Never complained once. Here's to Jeff!
(7/01)

Citizens Bank 5, Good Day Cafe 4
Whale of a game at Paul Frank
It is very rare to see a team of 13 year old play 7 innings of nearly mistake free baseball and still lose, but that is what happened Tuesday night as Good Day Cafe gave Citizens everything they could handle before falling 5-4 on a gorgeous night for baseball at Paul Frank. Good Day struck early, parlaying hits by Trent Walsh, Sean Gordon, Jake Omodt and Collin Reyerson into a 4 run 1st inning. Nolan "Rocket Man" Rockers pitched magnificently for 5 innings, and was aided by some fine defense, including a tasty double play pivot by 2nd sacker Tim Prohofsky, and an absolute missile from the hole by shortstop Gordon, nailing Mitchell Rotert by a step at 1st. Catcher Martin Schlegel-Wiener was excellent behind the plate, ensuring that Citizens would have to work for everything they got last night.
(7/03)

Good Day advances to Tournament Semi-Finals
Evers’ game winner caps a wild one at Countryside
Bud Evers' 6th inning single drove home Collin Reyerson with the winning run as Good Day Cafe came from behind 3 times to beat the Edina Yankees 17-16 on a warm night at Countryside Park. The 17 runs were the highest total by the boys all season, and the win sends Good Day Cafe (4-12) to the Prairie League semi-finals, 6:00 Wednesday at Braemar.

Collin led off the 6th with a walk, and made it all the way around to third by way of a passed ball and a Yankee error. Trent Walsh and Sean Gordon both walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Bud, who roped a "no doubt" single to center, ending the game, triggering a celebration at home plate and making a winner out of pitcher Nolan “Rocket Man” Rockers, who tossed a scoreless 6th.

The 6th inning never would have happened were it not for a furious 5th inning rally, where Good Day scored 5 times to tie the game 16-16 and extend the game. Martin Schlegel-Wiener and John Delke both had key RBI knocks in the 5th.

Good Day made the most of its 10 hits last night. Tim "Scrap Iron" Prohofsky, Josh Ruud and Jesse Ewaldt each had a hit, Ewaldt's hit a towering triple to left, to kickstart a 5 run 2nd inning.

Great effort by the guys all the way around. Bud played great behind the plate for 4 innings in the heat, and the guys just never quit last night. Was really happy to see them advance to the winners bracket.
(7/15)

Good Day Café 7, Edina Cardinals 4
Comeback Kids advance to Tournament final
The boys appear to be saving some of their best baseball for the very end, as they twice erased deficits and played error-free in the field to top the Edina Cardinals 7-4 in the Prairie League semi-final last night at Braemar. Sean “Flash” Gordon had 2 of the 5 Good Day Café hits, including an RBI single in the 4-run 5th inning, and recorded the last 6 outs of the game in relief of starter Nolan Rockers, who tossed the first 4 innings. Collin Reyerson, Trent Walsh and Tim Prohofsky all had RBI knocks last night, as Good Day Café rallied from deficits of 2-1 and 4-2 to improve its record to 5-12 on the season.

In the nightcap, Citizens Bank rode the bat and right arm of Mitchell Thomas for a 9-8 victory in the other tournament semi-final, setting up an SLP vs. SLP final Friday night. The big blow was Mitchell’s 3rd inning grand slam to left, which gave Citizens a 7-3 lead, and Mitchell also recorded the last 6 outs of the game on the mound.
(7/17)

No Championship Game
Mike and I have so far been unable to land on a day and time when we have a field, an umpire and enough players to hold the Championship Game. Lots of families planned vacations around the end of the season (which was supposed to be tomorrow night).

I want to toss something out there for families to consider: After all the guff we took from the good people of Edina this week, I submit that beating Edina in both semi-final games last night, ensuring that the first place trophy winds up someplace other than Edina, is the highest possible reward.

Instead of holding a championship game with a whole bunch of boys missing, let’s get the teams together for a Beat Edina Party in late July, grill some burgers, have a few laughs and cook up a good-natured way of determining who gets the 1st place and 2nd place hardware we earned last night.

It’s been a fun summer of baseball, and I would like to have as many boys and families on hand, even if it’s a week or two down the road, to celebrate a great season that could not have ended in a more positive way.

Thanks for a Great Season!
Short note of thanks to all families for your support all spring and all summer, and thanks to everybody for coming out tonight to wrap up our season with a few hot dogs and a few laughs. Lastly, thank you very much for the Granite City gift card. Hardly necessary but very much appreciated....I love that place!

It had been over 25 years since I coached a team. Some of the stuff I picked back up right away, some stuff took a while, but the guys were great and I thoroughly enjoyed the practices and games. Over the season, I think the guys' baseball skills improved steadily, and that is satisfying for parents and coaches to see. I can say with confidence that every kid on the team contributed BIG to at least one of our wins: Jesse Ewaldt's triple in the Edina tournament, John Delke legging out the infield single in the Richfield Tournament, Tim "Scrap Iron" Prohofsky turning a big double play to snuff out a rally. EVERYBODY had a piece of this thing.

Also, thanks to Jeff Prohofsky and Stephen Wiener for all their time on the diamond with the boys this summer. No way one dad can do this. Stephen, thanks for bringing the grill and ketchup tonight too....the hot dogs wouldn't have tasted the same with out you!

Thanks again everybody, and see you at the ballpark next spring!
(8/07)