Faribault Lakers Baseball: New Market ends Lakers season 17-15

In a  season that we knew was going to be challenging with the Lakers going through a youth movement, then was made even more challenging as the Lakers were deemed to be a Class A team, the challenges kept mounting, right into the playoffs. Through it all the Lakers never outwardly complained and gave it their all, right till the end in a two run loss to Class A powerhouse New Market. 

Faribault jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of a Tucker Alstead 2nd inning run scoring double. Followed in the 3rd with an RBI groundnut by Aiden Tobin.

The Muskies though hit paydirt in their half of the inning. An infield single and a bad hop single set the stage for an estimated 290 foot home run by Connor Weed to put the Muskies up 3-2.

A Pick Three of errors with two outs and a Dylan O'Neil RBI single gave Faribault the lead back in the fourth, 4-3.

A missed throw at first base and a two run single by Ben Glad gave the lead back to the Musikes in their half of the fourth.

The Lakers got within one in the sixth as Dom Erickson scored on a throwing error. The Muskies struck right back as RBI hits by Lundquist and Adam Weed gave New Market an 8-5 lead. Following a pitching change, a sacrifice fly by Gabe Bombardier and an RBI single by Cal Schmelzie stretched the lead to 10-5. Three batters later Parker Bailey struck a blow to the Lakers hope to extend their season with a three run home run to make it a 13-5 game.

Give the Lakers credit for not giving in. The Lakers collected five consecutive hits in the seventh. Highlighted by RBI hits from Jack Jandro, Alstead and a Sacrifice Fly by Zander Fitzsimmons that cut the lead to four runs at 13-9.

The Muskies struck for four of their own including home runs by Schmelzie and Dalton Kesti.

The Lakers got a home run from Aiden Tobin and a two run shot from Alstead to make it a five run deficit at 17-12.

The Lakers went down fighting scoring three in the ninth highlighted by a 2 run Jandro double. But with the tying run on second the Muskies induced a ground out to end the game and the Lakers season.

Notes:

I'm going to forego the Jamie's Deliverymen of the game but would like to thank Jamie for being a great sponsor this season. Be sure to call Jamie's Delivery for all your delivery needs.

A thank you for the Lakers for another Summer of entertaining baseball. Although the wins were hard to come by, the strides made by several of the younger Lakers provide hope for the future. A thank you to the Lakers fans especially the ones that I see on a consistent basis on the road. I wish we could get more people to take in games at Bell Field, because as we've seen compared to the last two games, Bell Field is a heck of a place to watch a ball game. And lastly, thanks to all of you that have taken the time to read this blog throughout the season. I'm far from a polished writer, but I do my best and hopefully provide decent content. 

I'm going to opinion mode now.

What I'm going to say is not to be taken as the views of the Faribault Lakers ballclub. Due to a clerical error that added a team point to Faribault, the Lakers were forced to move to Class A this season. The Lakers had points to spare in Class B and with that decided to bolster the roster. Ends up the reinforcement only pitched in one game and didn't last an inning. But the clerical error that the Minnesota Baseball Association found caused the move to be made.

The Minnesota Baseball Association cannot seem to get out of their own way. After last year, they decided to once again tamper with their classification system. It reminds me of how when a kid is not winning a game, he wants to change the rules. The MBA in thinking they were fixing a problem, only created a bunch of new problems. 

The genesis of the points system problem lies within the population points. For some reason the MBA is really hung up on making population points count much more than actual player experience and success at the tournament level. Faribault was assessed 24 population points including of all things, prison population. Would the MBA like Faribault to recruit prisoners to play for them? The uniforms would be incredible. A Lakers jumpsuit? "Batting for the Lakers, number 385859025, Pete Jones!!". The fact is that Faribault is not a strong baseball town, lots of that is predicated by what the population of Faribault consists of. If there was a DRS soccer league, Faribault could be a powerhouse. Webster has built a team that is going to be great for years by recruiting players from Lakeville. Should Lakeville population be reflected on Webster's point total? Webster's population point total is two above Bluto Blutarski's grade point average of 0.00, giving them the buffer to stock up on quality players without risking being moved up to Class A. I find it embarrassing that a team that is a consistent state tournament team like Waterville is playing Class C using players with collegiate experince from nearby Mankato . A team like Jordan should be Class A but they're in B.

So, how do you go about fixing this Commissioner Luckow, you ask? Here's what I would do. I would appoint a model that has kept the American Association competitive not just for Chicago teams but teams in smaller markets such as Sioux City and Fargo. It's solely based on who you have on your roster. Independent Baseball allows only so many players considered to be veterans, and you must have so many players that are considered rookies. Sure, you could have a problem where a 48 year old that played Division I baseball wants to play and crush Busch Lights afterwards being considered the same as a current college player. But for the most part, I think it would create a much more even playing field. Let the teams that want to stock up with college players play A, while working your way down to teams that would be Class B with lower quality of players in each level. Another thing I would want is to require teams to have a certain amount of players that are considered rookies on their rosters. I've seen cases throughout the years where players get out of high school want to play for their local Townball team but have to move on to get playing time because the roster is loaded with collegiate experienced players. If these 18-19 olds cannot get playing time, then where do the future players develop?

My enthusiasm for the playoffs was tempered by the fact the Lakers were going to be underdogs in every game. They gave Hastings and New Market everything they could handle. Hopefully iron sharpens iron and Faribault gets better through the experience. I miss having playoff games versus teams that have become rivals through the year like New Prague, Webster, Lonsdale and Montgomery. It sounds like this is a two year game, hopefully one of the kids at the MBA level doesn't like the rules and change them. Hit me up, we'll talk.