Lincoln Prodigy Legends 13u - 2027

25 days until Big Red kicks off the season against Ohio! Be sure to reach out and get a square or two for your chance to win at half or the end of the game for all 12 regular season games and the bowl game!

Time to start thinking about 2027 baseball!!!! As we are piecing together what our schedule will look like, we turn to all our family and friends and ask once again for your help supporting our team financially by purchasing a Husker Football square or two! For all 12 regular season games and the bowl game (13 games) you will have a chance to win your money back at half $25, and $75 for the end of the game score! 26 chances in all to make the Husker season a bit more exciting! We all hope the Big Red is a well oiled machine this fall and gives us plenty to celebrate, and having a chance to win some $$$ while also supporting some of your favorite to be 13 year old baseballers will make it even more enjoyable! Please reach out to any 13U Legends family and they will get you the information you need to get your name on the board! Numbers will change each week, so you'll need to check back on our page for the updated board.

Time to start thinking about 2027 baseball!!!! As we are piecing together what our schedule will look like, we turn to all our family and friends and ask once again for your help supporting our team financially by purchasing a Husker Football square or two! For all 12 regular season games and the bowl game (13 games) you will have a chance to win your money back at half $25, and $75 for the end of the game score! 26 chances in all to make the Husker season a bit more exciting! We all hope the Big Red is a well oiled machine this fall and gives us plenty to celebrate, and having a chance to win some $$$ while also supporting some of your favorite to be 13 year old baseballers will make it even more enjoyable! Please reach out to any 13U Legends family and they will get you the information you need to get your name on the board! Numbers will change each week, so you'll need to check back on our page for the updated board.

Tonight brought to a close our 2026 12U season. While it's never easy to finish a season off, as they always seem to fly by way to fast (even with 60 games this season), this one is messy due to Mother Nature. After an awesome extra inning victory vs the 1 seed Lincoln Sox in the Sandhills League tournament, the weather won the championship game, calling off the game after 2 innings of play. Congrats to Nebraska Braves Red on taking home 1st place in the league tourney and best of luck to you guys in the state tournament this weekend! While our season may be done, there were so, so many memories and moments that were created and will last a lifetime. Couldn't ask for a better team of ball players and their amazing families to make this experience what it is. 5 seasons in the books, with only 2 to go. Thank you to all our families and friends who give us unbelievable support throughout these seasons and will continue to be our number 1 fans as we continue this baseball journey together.

We turn our attention to the Sandhills League All Star game where will will have 4 representatives, two on each team.
Grady Gubbels
Gates Gebhardt
Drasyn Dubbs
Kale Sjuts

We also are proud of:
Grady Gubbels, Kale Sjuts and Gates Gebhardt for being selected to represent Lincoln in the 1st Lincoln vs Omaha All Star Game to be played later this month!

41-18-1 Record
Bennington Early Bird Qualifier Champions
Columbus Mariners Mothers Day Weekend Champions
Cal Ripken Experience at Sports Force Park Champions
4th seed Sandhills League, 2nd Place finish Sandhills Tourney

(photo cred: Amanda Gebhardt)

"There was only one night game a year. On the 4th of July, the whole sky would brighten up with fireworks... We played our best then, because I guess we all felt like the Big Leaguers." -Sandlot

While it wasn’t officially a night game, and while we had to move the game to the 5th due to all the rain, it was a fantastic way to cap the July 4th weekend playing a double dip at Lincoln’s own “Field Of Dreams” thanks to David Rallis and Lincoln Arsenal hosting us!

The sun ☀️ was out so the guns 💪🏻 followed suit as the boys rocked the cutoffs while getting the chance to play the game from all over the ballfield! Corner guys got to play up the middle and middle guys moved to the corners. Cooper Hood and Keegan Novotny made their debut behind the dish catching a few innings and Grady Gubbels came out of catching retirement and caught 3 innings in his return while also making a diving catch out in center. Those were just a few highlights from an enjoyable double dip.

We are in the final stretch of the season now with another DH tonight in Council Bluffs vs the River City Owls and the semi finals of the Sandhills League on Wed at 4:30 vs the Sox.

In addition to having a solid showing in the Skills Competition during Opening Ceremonies, the boys played some solid baseball throughout the week and took home the Championship after going 8-0 on the week! Big shout out to Cheri Lenhoff for the many awesome photos throughout the weekend, and her assistant Akacia Beckmann for the moments they captured. More photos will up added when they are ready.

Game 1: 7-1 Victory over Wheaton Warriors
Tough weather conditions to start off pool play (rain and wind), combined with an 8AM (7AM central time) first pitch, led to a slow start for the boys. Grady Gubbels toed the rubber to begin the tourney and went 3 solid innings allowing 1 unearned run while striking out 4. Keegan Novotny followed up that outing with 3 scoreless innings of his own in relief with 3 Ks. Grady and Keegans strong showing on the bump, allowed our bats to wake up and warm up, when they finally came alive in the top of the 5th, added 5 on top of our 2-1 lead to give us the winning margin of 7-1. In that inning, Keegan got on base to help himself, Cooper Hood walked, and Ashton Bailey loaded them up with a bunt single and they all came around to score with a Kale Sjuts 2 RBI double, Grady Gubbels 2 RBI double, and Drasyn Dubbs finished it off with an RBI single. Before pulling away in the top of the 5th, Keegan and the team worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the bottom of the 4th, with a K looking and a ground out to Jack Collins at 2nd base. Grady earned game MVP combining his outing on the mound with a 2-2, 1R, 2 RBI, 1 2B day at the plate. With that being our only game of the day, some boys/families enjoyed their afternoon riding roller coasters at Cedar Point, while others spent the day going down water slides at the water park! What a start to our weeklong tourney, and continue to go up from there!

Game 2: 22-2 W vs Villa Park Warriors
No roller coaster/water slide hangover here. We jumped out early as HR Derby Champ, Kale Sjuts blasted his first of the weekend in the top of the 1st after Ashton Bailey led off with a single. We finished the inning on top 4-0 on a Jack Collins RBI single. Gates Gebhardt set the tone on the mound working a quick 3 up 3 down inning and the bats went right back to work scoring 4 more. Another 3 up 3 down, led to more runs in the top of the 3rd, this time 11, highlighted by a two hit inning from Ashton Bailey, an RBI single and then an inside the park HR for his first of the season! Kale Sjuts and Grady Gubbels knocked in some RBIs with doubles, and Drasyn Dubbs made his way around 3 bases for a triple. Kale Sjuts earned MVP honors in game two, blasting a 2nd HR during the ball game, and drove in 6.

Game 3: 10-1 Win over Riley Braves
Cooper Hood finished off the previous game with 2 innings of relief and jumped right back on the rubber as the starter in game 3. He worked 2 1/3 innings, giving up 2 hits and 1 unearned run. Abel Keim finished the game throwing 3 2/3, allowing 0 runs or hits and 3K's to earn the game MVP while adding 2 hits and scoring 2 runs offensively. Solid hitting all around with contributions from all, the game was put out of reach when Keegan Novotny recorded a base hit, scoring Abel after reaching on a single and Jack Collins who was on thanks to a walk.

Game 4: 14-2 victory over SJ Blue Jays
Day 3 and the final day of pool play. Maddux Beckmann started things off with a 1,2,3 inning and Kale Sjuts hit HR #3 again bringing in Ashton Bailey to put us up 2-0 after our first 2 hitters. Maddux helped himself with an RBI single, Taben Tessendorf brought in two with a single of his own, and Jack Collins hot bat stayed hot with an RBI single as well. Another HR in the bottom of the second, this time courtesy of Grady Gubbels, was a 3 run shot with Ashton and Kale on base. We were able to end the game early by the 12 run rule after 4 when we loaded to bases and brought to the plate, Gates Gebhardt, Maddux and Taben who all knocked home a run on singles. Maddux earned game MVP going 2-3 with 1 run and 2 RBI while throwing 2 innings with 3Ks.

Game 5: 9-4 win vs Lincoln Way Vipers
Finishing off pool play undefeated and earned the #2 seed heading into bracket play. We jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead from RBIs from Kale Sjuts, Grady Gubbels, Maddux Beckmann and 2 from Taben Tessendorf. Lincoln Way cut the lead to 6-4 and Keegan Novotny entered the game in relief of SP Drasyn Dubbs. Our skills challenge double play champions put those skills to work in an actual game as former pitcher, now at 3rd base, Dubbs fielded a ground ball, fired to Jack Collins at 2nd across to Grady Gubbels at first, ended the inning and we were able to push 1 across in the next inning. 1,2,3 innings where Keegan induced 3 ground ball outs to Drasyn at third, and we went on to score a few more finishing things with an Abel Keim Sac Fly. The game ended with another double play, this time a bit more unorthodox than your typical 5-4-3 as a line drive to LF Kale Sjuts was caught with the runner trying to steal 2nd, and Sjuts fired the ball into 1st base to double him up. Game MVP honors went to Ashton Bailey for his 2-3 performance scoring 3 runs.

Game 6: Bracket Play 2-1 nail biter WALK OFF win vs AHQ Dupage

This time is seemed like there may have been a bit of a water park hangover combined with the early 8AM first pitch. Abel Keim was up to the challenge on the mound as he threw a gem, going the full 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 1 unearned run, and struck out 8 hitters. He also scored our 1st run after a leadoff single, passed ball, steal and got brought home on a Keegan Novotny QAB ground out in the bottom of the 3rd. AHQ scored their only run of the game in the 2nd, taking advantage of 2 Legends errors. AHQ threatened in the 4th putting 2 runners on with 1 out, but a nice catch by Maddux Beckmann in CF got out number 2, and a ground out to Jack Collins kept them from scoring. We had runners in scoring position in the bottom half of the inning but couldn't bring them in. Chance to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th when Abel once again was on base and moved into scoring position, Jack Collins laced a single to CF and it was a race to the plate, with AHQ executing a solid relay and nailed Keim at the plate to keep things tied into the 6th inning. Defensively Cooper Hood with the play of the game, when a back pick to first went wide, and Cooper showing the importance of always being focused and always having a job to do, backed up the throw, fielding the overthrow, and gunned down the runner trying to advance to 2nd base. Riding this momentum into the bottom of the 6th, Keegan Novotny started things off with a walk, and worked his was around the bases to third with no one out. Cooper, who just had the defensive play of the game, laced a 2-0 pitch into left field to also notch the offensive play of the game and we were headed to the semis on a walk off! Cooper for his clutch plays in the 6th earned MVP honors.

Game 7: 12-1 Semi Final win over Mojo Red from Oklahoma

Riding high after the walk off, Grady Gubbels set the tone and dealt a gem. Grady working with catcher Kale Sjuts, and putting his salty defense to work, recorded a 5 inning NO HITTER and struck out 6. A hit batter, steals, ground out allowed Mojo to get their 1st and only run in the 1st inning, then lights out after that. The boys scored 5 of their own in the 1st, combined with Grady on the mound, set the tone that we would seal the deal and be headed to the championship game. The no hitter would not have been possible without some nice defensive work behind Grady as Maddux Beckmann made a salty diving stop to his left while at second base, and 3rd baseman Drasyn Dubbs cut off a ball headed in between him a SS. Drasyn for his work defensively and contributing 2 hits, 1 run, and 3RBIs was awarded the MVP for the game.

Game 8: 9-3 Championship Win over Wheaton Warriors
In a rematch of game one, it did not disappoint. In what was another gritty, grind it out type game, what was a close game for a while, the boys were able to get a lead late and earn the title of tourney champs. Gates Gebhardt went 4 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned and struck out 7. In the 5th, Wheaton went back to back doubles to tie the game, and Maddux Beckmann entered the game in relief. Maddux and his defense proceeded to strand the go ahead run at third in the 5th, and then worked a scoreless 6th to finish the game. Maddux threw 1 2/3 innings of no hit baseball, and did so on just 10 pitches.
Back in the top of the 1st, after 2 quick outs, our boys committed 2 errors which had Wheaton threatening, but Gates induced a ground ball back to himself, and took care of it, running it all the way over to first to end the threat. We got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd when Drasyn Dubbs started the inning with a single, moved to third on a single from Maddux and scored on a sac fly to RF from Taben Tessendorf. Wheaton tied it up in the 3rd but we went right back ahead in our half with a Cooper Hood and Ashton Bailey single, followed by a Kale Sjuts double. Wheaton again went to work in the top of the 4th, getting back within one after a double, strikeout and single. Another single moved tying run into scoring position but Gates got a pop up to SS Ashton Bailey and ended the inning with a strikeout. After things were tied up in the 5th, and Maddux was able to keep things tied, the bats went to work to take the lead for good. Abel Keim and Keegan Novotny started off the inning with singles and scored to retake the lead for good on another single from Cooper Hood. Ashton Bailey extended the lead with another single scoring Keegan, but Cooper was thrown out trying to get two across and we now had 2 outs. Kale Sjuts stepped to the plate with 2 outs and laced the first pitch he saw down the line for an RBI double to make it 6-3, Drasyn 2 out RBI 8-3, and Gates finished the scoring with a hard hit of his own. Up 9-3 in the top of the 6th, Jack Collins fielded a ground out for out one, pop up to Ashton at SS for out two, and the game ended with a fly out to Abel Keim in LF. Thanks to his work on the mound to give the team 4+ solid innings of work with 7 Ks, Gates Gebhardt was selected as the game MVP.

The championship was the icing on the cake for the trip that we had been building towards since 10U. A huge THANK YOU to all the family and friends who have supported this team from the start, and all of those who cheer us on in person or via GameChanger, as well as those who helped support us financially to make this trip a reality! Through sponsorships and fundraisers this would not have been a tournament and trip we could have done without all of you!

We are very proud of the work that all the boys put in this season and so glad we performed at a high level this week. This was our last tournament of the season and every boy had many big time hits, catches, pitches, etc....to help us achieve our goal of tourney champs. Grady Gubbels earned Tournament MVP for his performance during those 8 games and truly deserved that honor!

We have a few more games before our 12U season comes to a close. Sandhills league tournament play begins on Thursday, with our first round match up vs Lincoln Arsenal. We turn around and see Arsenal again on Saturday for what should be an aweome 4th of July DoubleHeader! We have on last DH Monday the 6th against River City Owls in a make up DH due to bad weather, and then ideally finish things up with a semi final and champsionship game on Wed the 8th for Sandhills, but can't plan on those until we first take care of business tomorrow in round one. While it's bittersweet that the season is winding to a close, this has been another remarkable season with remarkable families and can truly say it's once again gone by wayyyy to fast. I think we would all keep playing throughout July if we could, that's how much we have all enjoyed this season together, as we always do because we are blessed with the best baseball families!

2026 Cal Ripken Lakefront Week-Long Experience at Sports Force Park in Sandusky, Ohio started off on Father's Day and we couldn't have written a script much better. Following Opening Ceremonies where all the teams were introduced and we (attempted) to listen to former Cleveland Indians Rajai Davis, we participated in 3 different skills challenge and the boys set the tone early that we were up there to take care of business.

Skills Challenge One: Outfield Relay. This competition started with a left fielder running to a ball, throwing it in to a cutoff man who fired it home and as soon as the catcher caught the ball the RF ran to his baseball, fired it to his cutoff man who threw it home to another catcher. Keegan Novotny (LF) to Maddux Beckmann (SS) to Taben Tessendorf (C) followed by Cooper Hood (RF) Abel Keim (2B) to Drasyn Dubbs (C) put forth a heck of an effort and took home a 2nd place finish falling just a few hundreths of a second short of 1st place.

Skills Challenge Two: Turn Two Double Play Challenge. 5-4-3, 6-4-3, 4-6-3, 3-6-1 were all the variations of turning two that this challenge required also with a throw from first into the catcher to signal when the next ball could be hit, and the final ball entered the bucket to stop the time. Drasyn Dubbs (3B) Ashton Bailey (SS) Jack Collins (2B) Grady Gubbels (1B) Gates Gebhardt (P) & Kale Sjuts (C) teamed up to take home the fastest time of the evening!

Skills Challenge Three: Homerun Derby. Each competitor had 1 minute to score as many points as possible. A fly ball to the OF was worth 1 point, a ball hit to the warning track/fence was worth 3, and a homerun was worth 5. Kale Sjuts stood at home plate, and blasted his fair share of no doubters, one which drilled the scoreboard and had the place on their feet cheering for more, to win the crown of HR Derby Champion. The best part of this event may not have been the actual HRs that Kale hit, but the excitement from the crowd, especially his teammates once they came to congratulate him after his round. By far some of the best pictures of the weekend, courtesy of Cheri Lenhoff, of the boys swarming Kale!

Taking home 2 of 3 events in the skills challenge set the tone for what would turn out to be a fantastic weekend of not only baseball, but a week full of memories that will not be forgotten.

Triple Crown SlumpBuster 2026 was an amazing experience for our Legends and families! 1st time competing in this tournament and it did not disappoint.

Game One vs Twitty City from Gallatin, Tennessee.
Started of SB against a top notch Twitty City squad who could swing it and ended up finishing 2nd overall in the tournament, losing in the Championship game. While the game didn't go our way with a lopsided 19-4 loss, we came out swinging when Ashton Bailey led off the game with a walk, and Kale Sjuts hit a 2 run HR to get us up right away in our first game of the tourney. While we couldn't match TC HR for HR, we did add a second when Kale walked and Drasyn Dubbs blasted his 1st HR of the year.

Game Two vs MASH from Eagan, Minnesota.
Another 2 run HR from Drasyn "Austin Riley" Dubbs, this time following a Grady Gubbels walk, got us out to a strong start. MASH tied it up in the bottom half of the inning, just to have us retake the lead 3-2 on a Keegan Novotny SAC Fly following a Maddux Beckmann double and steal of 3rd. MASH then took advantage of some free bases and scored 5 in their half of the 2nd, making the score 7-3. In Prodigy Legends style, we took that deficit and erased it in the top half of the 3rd as the 1st 9 hitters all reached base, helping us to score 7 of our own to retake the lead 10-7. Starting at the top of the lineup with Ashton Bailey who walked, Kale Sjuts singled, Grady Gubbels walked, Drasyn Dubbs RBI single, Gates Gebhardt laid down the perfect bunt down 3rd base line and beat it out for a bunt single, Ablel Keim then got hit by a pitch for an RBI, Maddux Beckmann laced a 2 RBI single, Keegan Novotny walked, and Jack Collins finished things off with an RBI single. Keegan then entered the game on the mound, needing to get 3 outs before the drop dead time limit reached (we had a rain delay that changed time limit to 1:30 and drop dead, meaning if we went over the score would have reverted back to the last completed inning and we would have been on the wrong side of a 7-3 completion of the 2nd). MASH fought back with a single, followed by an out, and then a double to the RCF wall to cut it to 10-8, but the relay from Abel in right nabbed the runner trying to stretch it to a triple and got us 1 out away as time continued to tick away. Finally, as time expired, Keegan recorded a strikeout and we earned a hard fought W.

Game Three vs SBA Red from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
First game of Pool Play that the results were recorded for bracket seeding as the first two lightning rounds games were just exhibition to get some extra games in. This time the defense set the table for an exciting game as following a walk, Kale Sjuts gunned down a runner attempting to steal, and we rode that momentum into our turn to hit as Ashton led the game off with a single, and Kale blasted a ball over the left field fence for the early 2-0 lead and gave the boys all the confidence to swing it the rest of the game. Not done in the 1st, with 2 outs and Drasyn Dubbs on 3rd and Abel Keim on 2nd, Maddux Beckmann laced a hot shot down 1st base line that 1st base couldn't handle to score them both and put us up 4. After 2 quick outs, SBA rallied with a walk and double, but Gates Gebhardt ended the threat by getting the next hitter to ground out to Jack Collins at second base. Cooper Hood started things off with a walk and steal in the 2nd and scored on a hard hit by Ashton up the middle. Kale brought Ash home with a single, Grady brought Kale home with a single and Gates finished the scoring with an RBI single to go up 8-0. Top of the 3rd resulted in another SBA rally thwarted by our boys. A walk and single had two runners on and they moved into scoring position. A wild pitch had SBA first run on the way home, but great effort from catcher Kale Sjuts tosses the ball to pitcher Gates covering and got the out at home. This saved us a run as the next hitter had an RBI double. We ended the threat and any hope of a SBA comeback when Kale backpicked the runner at 2nd base, nailing him with a throw to 2nd basemen Jack Collins. Jack added to our lead with an RBI single scoring Maddux in the 3rd (9-1). Another single and walk to start the SBA 4th, and another play to stop the rally. Jack Collins snagged a line drive at second and tossed it to SS Ashton Bailey for a double play. Still not done, SBA loaded the bases but a line drive to Drasyn Dubbs at 3rd ended the inning. Looking to finish the game early by 10 run rule, back to back doubles from Sjuts and Grady Gubbels got us to 9, and Gates finished it off with a single.

Game 4 vs Keller Indians from Fort Worth, Texas.
Down 2-0, Kale Sjuts followed an Ashton Bailey walk with another 2 run HR and got things tied up. Looking to add on, this time it was our rally that was thwarted when we hit into a double play. Keller was able to regain the lead with some clutch 2 out hitting of their own, scoring 5 all with 2 outs. They went on to add 2 more with another 2 out hit and we found ourselves down 9-2 in the 3rd. We scored 2 ourselves to make it 9-4, but quickly fell behind 12-4 and eventually 13-5 heading into the last inning. Needing to get everyone to the plate to make things interesting, our boys fought and did just that. Our 1st 4 hitters reached base, scored 3 on a single from Gates Gebhardt and fielder's choice/error on a Maddux Beckmann ground ball, we were able to extend the inning with 2 outs as Cooper Hood walked to keep our hopes alive. Ashton walked bringing the score to 13-9, bases loaded, 2 outs, but the rally stopped there as Keller induced a ground ball out to end the game 13-9.

Game 5 vs Brookfield East Jr Spartans from Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Going 1-1 in pool play earned us the 27th seed overall and placed us in the Plantinum bracket (teams seeded 17-32). A 9 hour rain delay pushed back what should have been an 8AM game to 5PM, and our boys focus and energy were to be tested. They passed this test with flying colors as we earned a huge 15-3 victory with Grady Gubbels throwing 4 strong innings and the bats coming alive in the 5th as we scored 10 to put the game away. 0-0 after the first inning, Grady pitched the team out of trouble as he recorded a strikeout looking with bases loaded and we used that momentum to springboard us into the lead. Maddux Beckmann laced an opposite field single to start the inning and while stealing second, Abel Keim roped an opposite field triple to get us on the board! We added 2 more in the 3rd on a Kale Sjuts RBI single scoring Ashton Bailey and a Grady Gubbels SAC Fly. 2 more in the 4th had us up 5-1, and the we broke the game wide open in the 5th scoring 10 and put the game out of reach. Grady started things off with a single, and Drasyn Dubbs followed up with a single of his own. Gates Gebhardt, fresh off his first SAC bunt of the year on Thursday, executed another SAC to move the runners. A walk to Maddux loaded the bases, walk to Abel Keim kept them loaded, and Jack Collins lined a 2 RBI single. Keegan Novotny loaded them back up with a single and Cooper Hood brought home two on a hard hit ball, that was matched with another hard hit ball from Ashton Bailey to score another. Kale Sjuts walked to reload the bases for Grady who's hit by pitch scored one, and Dubby's double scored 2. Our final run of the inning was from another SAC from Gates, this time the SAC Fly variety. The game ended on a fielder's choice where Ashton Bailey fielded the ball in the hole and fired it to Dubbs at 3rd, something we've been working on for a while so was fun to see us execute. 15-3 victory kept us alive in the Platinum bracket.

Game 6 vs Papillion StormChasers Gold from Papio, Nebraska.
In a rematch from a prior tournament where the ball game went into 2 extra inning California Rules, we squared off against a solid SC team for a spot in the semi finals. SC threatened right away in their half of the 1st, when they had bases loaded and already 1 in, when SP Gates Gebhardt settled in and struck out the hitter looking on a nasty breaking ball, not settling for just the K, catcher Kale Sjuts fired it down to Drasyn Dubbs to nab the runner on a back pick to squash the threat. We got our own rally started with a Maddux Beckmann walk, Abel Keim HBP and Jack Collins QAB RBI ground out tied the game. Cooper Hood walked and Ashton Bailey singles to load the bases but the LF handled a laser line drive by Kale Sjuts to end the inning. In the top of the 3rd, Grady Gubbels found himself in an 0-2, but fought his way back to 3-2 and as we always say, we are just "one pitch" away, he smoked that one pitch for a HR and the lead! We got another run in and up 3-1 but not for long. The wheels could have came off in the bottom of the 3rd. Our usually salty defense had some uncharacteristic errors, combined with a 2 run HR of their own and SC took a 5-3 lead. But the wheels stayed on, and we got right to work on mounting our comeback. Keegan Novotny singled to lead off the inning, Ashton Bailey and Kale Sjuts walked to load the bases and then Grady Gubbels tied the game back up with a 2 RBI double. Not done there, Drasyn Dubbs said "Adios Beisbol" and hit a 3 run shot, 3rd HR of the tourney, and put us in the lead for good 8-5! Grady took over on the bump after Gates gave us 3 solid innings, and quickly went 3 up 3 down and got us right back to hitting. Wasting no time to add on, Keegan again led off with a single, a sac bunt by Cooper Hood turned into a bunt single with how perfectly placed it was and we scored again on an Ashton Bailey single. Kale was walked to reload the bases and Grady deposited the 2-0 pitch over the CF wall for a GRAND SLAM! Not done yet, Maddux Beckmann doubled, Abel Keim got hit by a pitch and Jack Collins finished the scoring with an RBI single and score of 14-5. Looking to end the game via run rule, Papio fought back and loaded the bases with 1 out, when Grady buckled down and got back to back strikeouts to send us to the Platinum Bracket Semi Finals.

Game 7 vs Iowa Sticks from Waukee, Iowa.
Not able to sustain the momentum from our previous game, we found ourselves in an early hole. A hot hitting Sticks squad jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead after one, and showed just how they scored 26, 3 (outlier), 14 and 15 in their previous games. We had our chances early, but couldn't take advantage of the free bases. We were able to settle in and Drasyn Dubbs pitched a scoreless 2nd inning to show that we were able to keep them off the scoreboard. That bit of confidence helped us to break up the goose egg in the top of the 3rd as Kale Sjuts walked (1 of 4 in the game) and made his way around the bases with steals and passed balls and scored. Iowa added 3 in their half of the 3rd and had a chance for more but Ashton Bailey threw out a runner trying to steal 2nd. That caught stealing lit a fire in our bats and we came out swinging in the 4th. Abel Keim and Jack Collins started the inning and got on base when Keegan Novotny added a sac bunt single to get them loaded. RBI single from Cooper Hood, 2 RBI double from Ashton Bailey and we scored 3, then Kale Sjuts walked to reload the bases. This time things were GRAND off the bat of Drasyn Dubbs and his 2nd HR of the day, 4th of the tourney, had us within a run. Gates Gebhardt, joined in the HR fun and went back to back with Dubby to tie the game! Now a tie game, Abel Keim entered the game on the mound and got 2 quick outs in the bottom of the 4th. An error scored 1 and gave Iowa some extra swings and they took advantage and had a 2 run blast of their own, going back on top by 3. After a quick 3 up 3 down for our boys in the top of the 5th, we were now not only competing against the Sticks but the clock as well. Roughly 8 minutes to play as the inning started and Iowa began with single. Jack Collins, may have made the defensive play of the tournament, given the situation and our backs up against the wall, made a diving stop on a ground ball, stepped on 2nd, fired to first for a double play and gave us hope to get to bat again. A single and double later, we are now down 13-9 and under 2 minutes to go, Abel nails down the final out with a backwards K to give us one last chance to bat. A quick ground out had us 2 outs away from going home, but we weren't ready to bow out just yet. Kale Sjuts worked his 4th walk of the game, followed by walks to Gubbels and Dubbs to load the bases. A HR in his previous at bat, Gates singled this time to score 1. A passed ball and error scored 2 and had us within one with Gates on 3rd. A Maddux Beckmann bloop single wasn't enough to score Gates as we had to wait to see if the ball would be caught or not, so we had runners on the corners with 1 out. Another out and it was down to Jack Collins, who hit a tough fly ball to 2nd base, who actually missed it, just to be saved and caught by the SS who had hustled over and snagged it at his shoe strings to end the game.

On the weekend we went 4-3 with losses to the eventual Gold Bracket runner up, and loss to the eventual Platinum Bracket champion. We earned a 3rd place finish in the Platinum Bracket which placed us 19th out of 68 total teams. Beyond proud of our first SlumpBuster showing and had such a great experience.