Shakopee Indians Advance to Second Weekend of State Baseball Tournament After Strong Opening Win
By Bill Schleper
The Shakopee Indians’ town baseball team made a strong statement against a powerful contender during the first weekend of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball State Tournament on Sunday afternoon in Brownton, Minn., defeating the Metro Knights by a convincing 9-2 margin. The number of Shakopee fans who showed up to cheer on the Indians was equally impressive, as Vollmer Field definitely leaned blue in the bleachers and down the lines.
Veteran shortstop/utility player Kyle Ryan set the tone with a line-drive base hit to center field to lead off the game. Ryan also came up with a couple of nifty defensive plays later in the game that kept the Knights at bay. His base hit was followed by a line drive to right-center off the bat of left fielder Jack Schleper. First baseman Joe Roder then came to the plate and knocked in Ryan for the first run of the ballgame, and the Indians never trailed the rest of the way with right-handed ace Vinny Schleper on the mound. “Vinsanity” went six strong innings, scattering just six hits and surrendering one earned run. Griffen Larson slammed the door shut during the final three innings in relief, giving up no runs for an impressive 0.00 ERA during his three-inning lockdown stint.
The Knights gave a scare in the second inning, when a couple of infield errors put runners on second and third. The next batter singled to center, scoring the runner from third, but center fielder Cade McGraw charged and came up throwing a perfect one-hop dart to the plate to nail the would-be second run by a good 10 feet, with the runner tagged out in a rundown. The score remained 1-1 after two innings.
In the third inning, the Indians’ game MVP, Justin Winterfeldt, drilled a three-run homer an estimated 395 feet over the left-center field fence, giving the Indians a 4-1 lead. After no scoring in the fourth, Indians manager/coach Gary Schleper opted for a double-steal sign in the top of the fifth, which put runners on second and third with Winterfeldt again coming to the plate. This time, “Winny” ripped a sacrifice fly deep down the left-field line, adding another RBI to his credit.
With the Indians now up 5-1, third baseman Steve Boldt shot a two-out base hit through the infield, bringing up Tanner Ho, who smacked the ball well over the medium-depth right fielder, one-hopping the fence, scoring Boldt, and landing Ho on second with a stand-up double. Designated hitter Aaron Olson followed by coaxing a walk out of Knights starting pitcher Tomas Palomarez, which knocked him out of the game—but not before Palomarez muttered a few words at the home plate umpire. For the record, Palomarez gave up six runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Metro Knights. The Knights’ defense committed one error behind him.
In the top of the sixth inning, Winterfeldt added another RBI with a “seeing-eye” base hit, bringing his total to five. He finished the game going 2-for-3, with the big home run and five RBIs to his credit, and was named the game’s MVP by the state board members attending in Glencoe. Shortstop Kyle Ryan went 3-for-5, with a pair of RBIs and some stellar defense in an impressive game for the veteran leader of the team.
With this being a single-elimination tournament, the Knights now head into the offseason with a 19-16 overall record for 2025. The Indians’ victory brings their season record to 23-9, as they earn the right to move on to the second weekend of the state tournament.
The next state tourney game for the crew from Shakopee will be at Walsh Field in Gaylord, Minn. (515 Recreation Road) on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 1:30 p.m., taking on the Champlin Park LoGators, who earned a bye in the first weekend of the tournament. Should the Indians upset the LoGators—one of the favorites to win it all—the Indians will move on to the third and final weekend (Labor Day weekend) of the tournament. Lose, and the season is over.
The talent in this year’s tournament is spectacular and fun to watch—and the Indians are quietly as talented as any team in the field, possibly the sleeper pick to win it all. It should be another great weekend of tournament play, and a $10 ticket gets you into a full day’s worth of exciting ballgames at four different ballparks. Get to Gaylord, Glencoe, Brownton, and Hutchinson sometime over the next two weekends! If you can’t go, subscribe to the livestreams on NSPN.com. You won’t regret it.
