In fact, the Stearns County League started its season last Sunday. The County Line League starts its season this Sunday.
The four teams in the immediate area all return largely the same teams this year, with a few additions and subtractions. This time of year they all hope their 1999 campaigns will be improvements over last year.
In the past two years, the Stearns County League and the County Line League have produced two runners-up in the Class C state tournament: Regal in 1997 and Richmond in 1998.
While that demonstrates the quality of baseball in the area, it also opens up the playoffs to other area teams. For several years, the two representatives from our region were Regal and Richmond. After finishing in the top two, both will compete in Class B when the tournaments arrive.
"You get those two out," said Lake Henry manager Lynn Hemmesch, "and you've got a chance."
"If you're not excited about baseball, you shouldn't be playing," added Hemmesch.
After a couple seasons off, Hemmesch is back managing the Lakers. He'll also do some pitching until Roger Wuertz and Mike Stalboerger wrap up their college seasons. Those two, along with Ryan Wuertz, were drafted to pitch last year in the playoffs.
"That definitely will be our strength," said Hemmesch.
A problem last year for the Lakers was scoring runs consistently, and they lost Pat Jaeger, their catcher and a dangerous hitter. Other leading hitters last year were Steve Lieser, Tim Lieser, and Ryan Wuertz. Hemmesch said they will need more production from the entire lineup this year. "Losing Pat, these other guys will have to pick things up," he said.
Lake Henry will be playing in the South Division of the Stearns County League this year with Farming, Richmond, Roscoe, and St. Martin, who also went to state last year.
The Roscoe Rangers are happy to face Richmond twice in the regular season as long as Richmond is out of their playoff picture. "They've been knocking us out of the playoffs for 10 years," said Ranger manager Randy Rothstein.
"Basically, we have everybody back from last year's team," added Rothstein.
Once again, Russ Schaefer will be starting on the hill for the Rangers most Sunday afternoons. Greg Heinen will also be a main man on the mound, and Brent Heinen may see some pitching action once the high school season ends.
At the plate, Tony Orbeck is back after hitting better than .500 last year. Jeff Welle and Greg Heinen each batted over .340. Two other veteran hitters are Rick and Dale Mackedanz.
"My personal opinion is it's the best ball club we've fielded in Roscoe," said Rothstein, who has been on the team for 12 years.
Improvement is the key word for the Paynesville Pirates. The young Pirates come back a year older and wiser, and manager Dale Hess hopes that will make a difference in close games this year. Last year, he estimated 80 percent of the Pirates' losses were by one or two runs.
The Pirates picked up three new players after Belgrade's town team folded. They also have six players playing college baseball.
Expected to handle the pitching chores this year are David Hemmesch, Jason Schlecht, and Dan Starken.
Leading the hitting attack from the top of the order are Darren Michaelis, Chris Stanley, and Scott Morris.
"The County Line League is very tough," said Hess. "If we could win half of the league games, it'd be a big improvement."
Perennial power Regal begins its second year in Class B, mandated after finishing second in the 1997 state tournament. The Eagles will play in the County Line League again but will be in Class B when playoffs come around.
Most of the nucleus returns for Regal this year. Dave Zaeska has moved to Nebraska and Tim Beier has retired, but Tim Haines, Ron Fuchs, Mike and Randy Beier, Mike Tangen, Jeff Deming and company all return.
The new manager this year is Jim Weber, who used to play for Atwater.
Other additions are Dave Oehrlein, Wade Thonbolt, Wade Von Eschen, and Scott Braun. Oehrlein is an ex-Springer who sat out last year. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals organization and reached AAA.
Thonbolt is on the North Dakota baseball team and is expected to play shortstop for Regal. Von Eschen is a pitcher who used to play for Belgrade and Braun is a high school player who also played for Belgrade last year.