This was in Game 1 of the Thursday doubleheader against the Benson Braves. Yes they're still the "Braves." The nickname goes against the wishes of our state government but oh well.
Our 14 runs in the top of the seventh were en route to the final 26-6 winning score. Benson hosted.
We always must make clear which "Asmus" we're talking about. So let's acknowledge Alex Asmus as the winning pitcher. His stat line was not outstanding this time around. But the "W" looks nice next to his name. Benson was able to get through with offensive punch at times.
Alex pitched six innings and allowed six hits and four runs which were earned. He set down nine Brave batters on strikes. Jackson Hallman finished up on the hill. Benson had a parade of five different pitchers trying to subdue the MACA batters. I guess a futile cause on this day.
Can we all envision the orange and black in the state tournament? Our line score was 26 runs, eleven hits and two errors. Benson rapped ten hits but fumbled in the field with seven errors. Not a pretty sight for the Benson fans.
Eleven MACA hits
Now, on to the MACA offensive story where we see Riley Asmus with a three-for-four line, three runs scored, an RBI, walk received, a stolen base and on once via HBP.
Jonah Huebner had a two-for-three line and drove in four runs while scoring three. Jonah doubled, stole a base and drew a walk.
Alex Asmus had a hit, drew a walk, stole a base and scored two runs. Riley Saito walked, scored a run and drove in one. Jack Letendre had a hit in his only at-bat, plus he scored a run and drove in two. Jack Kehoe socked a triple. Kehoe scored three runs, drove in four and walked twice.
Hallman worked the Benson pitching for four walks. He was a terror on the basepaths with three stolen bases. He scored four runs and drove in one. Kye Suess drove in three runs on his one-for-four line. He walked and scored a run also. Justin Giese was busy with a stolen base, two walks received, two RBIs and two runs scored on his one-for-three line.
Hunter Smith walked twice and scored two runs. Leo Perez walked and scored a run. We have to remember there are two "Huebners" too. Drew Huebner had a hit and also reached three times on walks and once on HBP. Drew crossed home plate three times.
For the "Braves" - excuse that reference - Landon Skarsten and Alex Claussen both went three-for-four and Noah Goossen had two hits. The losing pitcher was Claussen.
The Tigers took Game 2 by a score of 11-0. Riley Asmus and Hallman shared the pitching. Drew Huebner hit a home run.
Let's take a look at the "Minnesota Scores" website for MACA baseball. My we're a juggernaut. We learn that our W/L is a superlative 16-0. Looks like we don't play again until next Thursday. Action will be at BOLD where the school district has controversy with a criminal investigation. In Morris the biggest issue is the substantial staff cuts that drew 125 members of the public to a recent board meeting.
Is the public calming down about that? In the old days I knew about everything that was going on. Today I have to go out of my way.
The last MAHS graduation I covered for the Morris newspaper was in 2006. It was the first graduation in the new gym and I was proud to be part of it with my newspaper work. But, so long ago now.
Would I have liked to continue it? Well of course I would have. Ditto with being at the Hancock graduation. Maybe I was even more emotional about saying goodbye to that event. I still remember the song that was played for the slide show there. Made me get a little misty in fact. My last graduation there was when the "Grunig twins" graduated.
One of those guys played football and the other one didn't. I was amused to hear coach Adam Steege talk about that. Of the non-football-playing twin, Steege said he was a "pacifist." Hey, that attitude is right in line with me.
Also re. the Hancock graduation, the Grunig twins' father Ken had his Hanocck band start "Pomp and Circumstance" with a percussion intro that always startled me! I think I got a bit of a reputation for that. Oh to pay a visit again someday. Today's graduates weren't quite born yet when I left the paper. I haven't aged a day, have I?
The Hancock graduation had more of an intimate atmosphere to it. But the MAHS atmosphere was great too. I found it was easier to take notes in the new gym compared to previously. Oh for years the 1968 gym had terrible acoustics for that IMHO, or a mishandled sound system. The standards are much higher today for everything. But I still think my work would "cut it." We can only speculate.
The memories are stored in my head from years and years - no one can take these away from me. I still remember when we had the literal earthquake during the MAHS graduation. The Lopez boy was speaking. He's no longer a boy. I recall him saying later that he wasn't sure at first what the rumble was. Actually I did think earthquake right away. There is a history here. There are no train tracks next to the high school building! It is very rare for me to get invited to graduation receptions anymore. I carry on with life.
Maybe a footnote
My own graduation from 1973 is quite secondary in my thoughts, to all the graduations I covered with the Morris Sun Tribune. These included graduations at Cyrus High School. I remember seeing a Japanese exchange student with the Cyrus grads who I had interviewed for a feature article. She was emotional as she participated in CHS graduation! Wonderful thing to see.
I have no emotions reflecting on my own MAHS graduation. I concluded high school with no useful skills at all, but I had been dragged through endless tedious and boring "academic" classes that are a scar on my memory, sorry.
Wally Behm was our principal. His stock seemed to fall rather suddenly here. But he was the "principal to the boomer generation" of Morris. Each community has someone like this ensconced in its history: "principal or superintendent to the boomers." A wholly unique niche. Wally was a smart and good person. But I think he was a product of another age. He had a stately presence. He had a sense of humor but when he got mad you'd quickly shudder.
Our superintendent up to 1970 was Oscar Miller who seems to have vanished from community memory. After Oscar it was the very well-remembered Fred Switzer. Fred knew the value of a dollar to a fault. Whereas Oscar clearly had a "PR personality," Fred did not. Fred was rather cold and dry. To the extent there were problems with him, it was probably due to the board. I went to a 10K run once with one of Fred's sons and he told me "people don't seem to realize he works for the board, it isn't the other way around."
It's really hard to feel joyful about anything that happened in 1973 because the whole Vietnam tragedy was not yet over. The fall of Saigon happened two years later. And to think we could have just avoided the whole thing. The U.S. lost the war. Whatever bad memories I have, I wasn't sent to that hellhole.
My family had a family friend who was killed by friendly fire in 1966. Bless today's young people who don't have to deal with something like this. As for the Iraq adventure, why did the U.S. have to send National Guard troops to fight? Why didn't the American public rise up to question it?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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