The Chaska Post 57 Legion baseball team ended its 2022 season July 23 in the sub-state 4 tournament.
Chaska finished the regular season with a 9-10 record, but Post 57 was competitive in many of their games. In fact, eight of their 10 losses were decided by two runs or less. Pair that with moving to a new sub-state and head coach Rob Jeppson thought Post 57 could advance through the playoffs.
“I told the team it’s a new season, and we can forget about the losses that maybe hurt and start fresh,” Jeppson said. “We need to control what we control and see what happens.”
Chaska Post 57 took the first game of the Sub-State 4 tournament, beating Chester Bird Post 523 7-1 July 19.
Adam Hanson got the win on the mound for Post 57. Hanson threw a complete game, striking out three and walking three. Post 523 scored early in the first, but Hanson was able to shut them down the rest of the way. Hanson never faced more than four batters during the last six innings.
Post 57 took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning after Tommy Hanson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring eight. Chaska later broke the game open in the fifth, capitalizing on two Chester Bird errors. A wild pitch scored two runners, Maddox Foss had an RBI single and number seven followed that up by driving in two more runs to go up 7-1.
Chaska came away with its second win of the tournament, beating second seed Excelsior 9-5 July 20.
Post 57 was led at the plate by Conner Hartley, who had three hits in four at bats and drove in three runs. Mason Tangen pitched five innings for Chaska with Matthew Magnuson coming in to close out the game.
With the win, Chaska advanced to take on top-seeded Hopkins in the third round of the sub-state playoffs. Hopkins took care of business early and beat Post 57 16-2 in five innings.
Mason McGowan took the loss on the mound for Chaska, pitching 2 ⅓ innings. Hopkins scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to put Post 57 in an early hole they could not dig out of. After a seven-run third inning that included four hits and a three-run home run, Hartley and Isaac Whicker each had RBI singles in the fourth inning to try to avoid the 10-run rule. Hopkins’ bats came right back to tack on four more runs.
Chaska was able to bounce back and beat Bloomington Blue 4-3 July 22 to advance to the sub-state final. Matthew Magnuson threw a complete game and gave up five hits in the win.
The win set up a rematch with Hopkins with Chaska needing to win two games to earn a trip to the state tournament. While Post 57 slowed Hopkins’ bats down more so in the second meeting, Chaska could not slow them down enough to continue its season, falling 9-3 in the final.
Foss had an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning and would later be driven in by Grant Hallman to cut into the Hopkins’ lead. Hallman later scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-3 game, but Chaska could not rally back to win the game.
Chaska finished the season with a 12-12 overall record. While winning is still an important part of the Legion baseball season, Jeppson said what he enjoys most about coaching the team is the bonding built with the players.
“You get to know the players on a different level,” Jeppson said. “You can joke around and have a good time. It’s not as stressful or intense, and you really get to build relationships with them.”
