Thank you to these supporters of amateur baseball!
7/11/25
The All-Stars representing the Tomahawk East League and the Corn Belt League converged at the Stark Ballpark on Friday evening. In the days leading up to the game, the weather didn't look very promising with significant rain in the forecast. Fortunately, the rain didn't impact the game as the teams just played through a shower which lasted about half an inning. The Corn Belt got on the board first with a homer in the top of the second. The Tomahawk East scored five runs in the bottom of the third to grab a 5-1 lead. The Corn Belt chipped away, scoring a pair of runs in the fourth and seventh to even things at five. That's where it stayed until a walk-off balk brought home the winning run for the Tomahawk East in the home half of the 12th.
Marshall's Connor Neubeck led off the top of the second with a solo homer off of the Tomahawk East's starting pitcher Leavenworth's Mark Anderson to grab a 1-0 lead.
After retiring the first six batters he faced on four strikeouts, the Corn Belt's starter Marshall's Mitchell Bouwman ran into trouble. A pair of walks, followed by a bunt single loaded the bases. Zach Haala of the host Stark Longhorns tied the game with an RBI single. Nolan Drill of Courtland cleared the bases with a blast on top of the batting cage beyond the left field fence to give the home team a 5-1 lead.
The visitors went right to work in the top of the fourth when James Woelfel from Bird Island launched a solo homer to tarnish St. James' Connor Jones' second inning of work. A walk and two hits later and the Corn Belt was within two, 5-3.
A clutch two-out single from Milroy's Brock Schultz drove in a pair in the top of the seventh to tie the game at five.
From there, the teams exchanged zeros with minimal traffic on the bases. The biggest threat from each team came in the tenth as both teams got two runners on, but they were stranded as the game continued.
In the bottom of the 12th, Drill started the inning with a single. A stolen base and an error put him on third. The Corn Belt attempted a hidden-ball trick, but the umpires ruled that the pitcher was on the mound resulting in a balk to score Drill and give the Tomahawk East a 6-5 victory.
The 2025 MVP Award winner was Nolan Drill of Courtland who was 2-for-6 at the plate, including a grand slam, with two runs scored, and four RBIs. This is Drill's second All-Star MVP award, as he also earned it in 2023 at Searles. The win went to Leavenworth's Jackson Ludewig who worked a scoreless inning, striking out two. Granite Falls' Bryce Sneller took the loss, allowing the final run of the game while working an inning and a third.
The Corn Belt outhit the home team ten to eight and was led by Raymond's Mike Jeseritz and Bird Island's Dylan Gass with two hits each. Bird Island's Braeden Tersteeg and James Woelfel, Marshall's Connor Neubeck, Milroy's Brock Schultz, Raymond's Caleb Ditmarson, and Granite Falls' Bennett Knapper all added one hit each.
The Tomahawk East offense was led by MVP Nolan Drill with two knocks. Stark's Zach Haala, Hanska's Chris Knowles, New Ulm's Justin Hoffmann and Ayden Jensen, Gibbon's Dominic Rose, and Essig's Nick Stadick all contributed one hit apiece.
The win is the Tomahawk East's sixth straight victory in this 8th annual all-star exhibition between the two leagues. It was the fourth extra inning game during the streak in which ALL the games have been decided by one run! The win also means the game will be hosted in a Tomahawk East League ballpark again next summer!
THANK YOU to Stark for a great job hosting this celebration of amateur baseball! Best of luck to all teams as they wrap up regular season play and begin the battle to represent the Corn Belt and the Tomahawk East at the 102nd annual Minnesota Amateur Baseball State Tournament hosted in Brownton, Hutchinson, Gaylord and Glencoe beginning in just over a month! See you at the ballpark!
CORN BELT ALL-STARS (5) AT TOMAHAWK EAST ALL-STARS (6) CORN BELT AB R H BI TOMAHAWK EAST AB R H BI Braeden Tersteeg 3 0 1 0 Zach Haala 6 1 1 1 Eli Nelson 3 1 0 0 Nolan Drill 6 2 2 4 Brady Kienitz 4 0 0 0 Chris Knowles 5 0 1 0 Joe Liebel 1 1 0 0 Tyler Hach 4 0 0 0 Griffin Howard 1 1 0 0 Jackson Ludewig 1 0 0 0 James Woelfel 3 1 1 1 Jake Mielke 1 0 0 0 Talan Plante 2 0 0 0 Andrew Peters 5 0 0 0 Connor Neubeck 3 1 1 1 Justin Hoffmann 5 0 1 0 Zeke Walton 2 0 0 0 Caden Evers 1 1 0 0 Isaac Call 2 0 0 0 Ayden Jensen 2 0 1 0 Brock Schultz 2 0 1 2 Isaiah Rieser 0 1 0 0 Zach Reierson 1 0 0 0 Carter Lang 4 0 0 0 Dylan Gass 3 0 2 0 Dominic Rose 1 1 1 0 Bryce Sneller 1 0 0 0 Arian Saenz 2 0 0 0 Mike Jeseritz 3 0 2 1 Nick Stadick 1 0 1 0 Caleb Ditmarson 2 0 1 0 Bennett Knapper 3 0 1 0 Josh Kraft 2 0 0 0 Adam Herman 1 0 0 0 Branden Flock 3 0 0 0 TOTALS 45 5 10 5 TOTALS 44 6 8 5 CORN BELT ALL-STARS 010 200 200 000 -- 5 TOMAHAWK EAST ALL-STARS 005 000 000 001 -- 6 LOB--CORN BELT ALL-STARS 10, TOMAHAWK EAST ALL-STARS 8. ERR--Jack Howard, Joe Liebel, Eli Nelson, Josh Kraft. 2B--Bennett Knapper, Dylan Gass. HR--James Woelfel, Connor Neubeck, Nolan Drill. HBP--Joe Liebel, Adam Herman. SACB--Talan Plante. SB--Justin Hoffmann, Nolan Drill. CORN BELT ALL-STARS IP H R ER BB SO HR Mitchell Bouwman 2.00 3 5 5 2 4 1 Jack Howard 3.00 2 0 0 0 3 0 Zeke Walton 1.33 1 0 0 0 3 0 Bennett Knapper 2.67 1 0 0 0 2 0 Dreyer Homan 1.00 0 0 0 2 2 0 Bryce Sneller (L) 1.33 1 1 1 0 2 0 TOMAHAWK EAST ALL-STARS Mark Anderson 2.00 1 1 1 0 3 1 Connor Jones 2.00 4 2 2 1 4 1 Austin Imker 1.00 1 0 0 0 1 0 Dominic Rose 1.00 2 0 0 0 2 0 Quintyn Vold 1.00 1 2 2 0 2 0 Mark Schommer 2.00 0 0 0 0 4 0 Carter Lang 2.00 1 0 0 1 2 0 Jackson Ludewig (W) 1.00 0 0 0 1 2 0 WP--Quintyn Vold. BALK--Bryce Sneller. SO--Bennett Knapper (2), Zeke Walton (2), Adam Herman, Dylan Gass, Eli Nelson (2), Griffin Howard, Talan Plante (2), Brady Kienitz (2), Connor Neubeck, Bryce Sneller, Isaac Call (2), Branden Flock (2), Zach Reierson, Andrew Peters (4), Justin Hoffmann (2), Tyler Hach (2), Zach Haala (3), Arian Saenz, Nolan Drill, Ayden Jensen, Chris Knowles, Carter Lang. BB--Joe Liebel, Connor Neubeck, Isaac Call, Isaiah Rieser, Jake Mielke, Caden Evers, Chris Knowles.
Fri., July 11, 2025 - Tomahawk East vs Corn Belt All-Star Game at Stark (PDF)