By: Tim Beasley, Media and Player Relations Intern for the Northwoods League
My first week watching games in the NWL since 2006 was enjoyable. The league continues to grow and each city and franchise continues to make improvements to give fans, players, coaches and media personnel a great experience.
On opening night I was in Brainerd, MN. Joel Sutherland, who has successfully founded two NWL franchises in St. Cloud and Alexandria, has taken over the Brainerd affiliate and the change was very evident. I was in Brainerd several times with the Alexandria Beetles in ’05 & ’06 and it just wasn’t a typical Northwoods League atmosphere in any way. Sitting in the visitors dugout we used to count the fans in the stands, generally less than 100, and it just wasn’t a great experience for the players or fans like every other stop in the league was. But from the time I pulled up to the ballpark Thursday and had to park blocks away in the neighborhood outside of Stewart C. Mills Field I could tell this was different. At 6:30pm, a half hour before game time, there was a long line for tickets. There was a buzz in the air that I had never seen in Brainerd. It was obvious that Joel and his River Bats staff, who are jointly running both franchises, are doing an outstanding job in changing the atmosphere there. VP’s Ryan Voz and Marc Jerzak have been putting in countless hours both in Brainerd and St. Cloud and the opening night turnout of 1,420 fans had to be a good reward for their work so far. They have made several improvements to the ballpark that gives it a better feel and it really is a beautiful place to watch a game with the pine trees and Mississippi River just over the center field wall. I plan to be back there again next Tuesday and am looking forward to seeing how things are continuing to progress.
Friday night in Mankato, the MoonDogs home opener, was quite the event. Post-game fireworks were planned and when the game ran into extra innings they were put on hold. At 11pm however, with the game in the 13th inning, the stadium lights went out. Apparently the lights are on an automatic timer to shut off by 11pm due to the city of Mankato’s regulations. So with a lengthy delay ahead to wait for the lights to turn back on the MoonDogs staff decided to go ahead with the fireworks show, before the game was even over! I don’t think I’ve heard anything like that before. The lights were not able too be turned back on and the game had to be suspended.
Saturday I was in St. Cloud at Joe Faber field and witnessed a great pitching performance by the visiting Alexandria Beetles and Chase Porch. Being with the Beetles organization from ’04-’06 we had more than our fair share of struggles with the River Bats, especially in St. Cloud. The Beetles squelched a couple potential River Bats rallies and pulled out a 1-0 victory. It was another beautiful night in central Minnesota and another great park to watch a baseball game in. The Sports Deck down the left field line is outstanding, I highly recommend it to anyone planning to attend a game there.
The I-94 rivalry continued Sunday in the friendly confines of Knute Nelson Park in Alexandria as the River Bats gave up the lead in the 9th inning on a “Knute Special” walk-off homerun. First time visitors to Knute Nelson are always shocked when they see the ‘345 sign on the center field fence. It is an oddly shaped park because of Lake Winona being located just a few yards behind the fence. It is ‘345 (or less) from right field through center until it lengthens all the way to ‘385 in left field. There are certainly a lot of home runs hit there but not as many as one would think. In the bottom of the 9th, after a 10-minute lightning delay, a leadoff HBP, a wild pitch and a walk put runners on 1st and 3rd for pinch hitter Jayson Langfels. Langfels lined a pitch into the right center field gap and it just snuck over the fence for the win.
A couple very noticeable upgrades have been made at Knute, the most important being the installation of field turf in the infield. As anyone who has played there can attest, it was not a very ground ball friendly infield. But with the new turf it provides a much nicer surface for the infielders. The field gets a lot of use throughout the year with all of the local youth, high school and amateur games as well as the 34 Beetles games in a summer and the turf will handle that well. A much-needed, brand new, clay mound was also built by former Beetles pitching coach and field manager Erik Maas which adds to the look.
The new management and atmosphere in Brainerd and the new field conditions in Alexandria have brought those two places up to par in areas where they were well behind the other stops around the NWL.
I plan to be in Alexandria, Duluth and Brainerd over the next week and will give some more updates on different and interesting things following those trips!
