Thank you to these supporters of amateur baseball!
7/11/26
All-Stars representing teams from the Tomahawk East and Corn Belt amateur baseball leagues gathered in St. James on Saturday afternoon. The afternoon began with a home run derby, which was the first for the Tomahawk East since the All-Star game was held in Gibbon in 2009. The game continued the tradition of being a battle. The teams locked up in a tie at two after the second inning. The Corn Belt finally broke through to gain a 6-2 lead, but Tomahawk East answered with five runs in the bottom of the eighth to pick of the victory.
Courtland's Nolan Drill made his way around the bases aided by a hit and an error in order to start the scoring in the home-half of the first.
The theme of the second inning was home runs, something that was a little hard to come by at certain times during the home run derby! Milroy's Joe Liebl crushed a two-run blast to give the Corn Belt a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the second, Essig's Winsten Nienhaus dropped a solo shot over the centerfield fence to tie the game at two.
While there were not runs being scored in the middle innings, there was lots of traffic on the bases. The only one-two-three inning was when the Corn Belt was retired in order in the top of the sixth by Drill during his second inning of work on the mound.
After Searles' Mark Schommer struck out the first two batters he faced in the top of the seventh, Milroy's Alex Schuh and Brock Schultz teamed up with a pair of singles, that sandwiched Bird Island's Zeke Walton being hit by a pitch, to put the Corn Belt on top, 3-2.
Schommer surrendered three more runs in the top of the eighth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Milroy's Branden Flock. The Corn Belt rode a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Jose Ortiz of the Willmar Indians took over on the hill for the visitors in the bottom of the inning. Four of the five batters he faced reached base via three hits and a walk. The Corn Belt went to their bullpen for Bird Island's Dylan Gass. Within three pitches, the Tomahawk East grabbed the lead on a bases clearing double by Hanska's Chris Knowles.
Springfield's Jordan Milbrath, who had taken over on the mound to get out of the eighth, pitched a scoreless ninth, working around a two-out single to secure the win for the Tomahawk East.
The 2026 MVP Award winner was Chris Knowles who was 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs. The win went to Springfield's Jordan Milbrath who worked a scoreless inning and a third, striking out one. Bird Island's Dylan Gass took the loss, allowing the winning run while working two-thirds of an inning.
The Corn Belt outhit the home team twelve to ten, but no one had more than one hit. The Tomahawk East was paced by Knowles and Drill with three hits each.
The win is the Tomahawk East's seventh straight victory in this 9th annual all-star exhibition between the two leagues. It continues 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!
In the home run derby, it took six rounds to get eight of the initial sixteen hitters to leave the yard. The following were the eight batters who moved to the second round: Nolan Drill (Courtland), Connor Neubeck (Marshall), Jose Ortiz (Willmar Indians), Chris Knowles (Hanska), Jackson Huiras (Leavenworth), Sam Keckeisen (New Ulm), Adam Sellner (Stark), Kasey Kuck (Searles). Round two brought about head-to-head match-ups and those remaining were: Drill, Knowles, Neubeck, and Keckeisen. Head-to-head battles left Knowles and Neubeck in the finals with Neubeck coming out on top.
THANK YOU to St. James for a great job hosting this celebration of amateur baseball with the home run derby and game! 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 103rd annual Minnesota Amateur Baseball State Tournament hosted in Chaska, Jordan, New Prague, and Shakopee beginning in just over a month! See you at the ballpark!
CORN BELT (6) AT TOMAHAWK EAST (7) CORN BELT AB R H BI TOMAHAWK EAST AB R H BI Cody Wichmann 3 0 1 0 Nathan Vance 1 0 0 0 Zach Reierson 2 1 1 0 Cole Ranweiler 4 1 1 0 Christian Lessman 2 0 0 0 Zach Haala 3 1 0 0 Josh Kraft 2 0 0 0 Nolan Drill 4 2 3 1 Cullen Gregory 1 0 1 0 Chris Knowles 3 0 3 3 Connor Neubeck 3 0 1 0 Hudsen Jenniges 1 0 0 0 Deagan Maurice 2 0 0 0 Teddy Giefer 4 0 0 0 Jimmy Woelfel 2 0 0 0 Brock Wellmann 1 0 0 0 Alex Schuh 2 1 1 0 Tyler Hach 1 0 0 0 Ryan Schwagel 2 0 0 0 Matt Mielke 3 0 0 0 Zeke Walton 1 0 0 0 Winsten Nienhaus 1 2 1 1 Shawn Dollerschell 2 1 1 0 Jackson Huiras 2 1 1 0 Brock Schultz 1 0 1 1 Josh Seidl 1 0 0 0 Joseph Liebl 3 1 1 2 Teagan Kamm 1 0 0 0 Liam Kruse 1 0 0 0 Jordan Milbrath 2 0 1 0 Jose Ortiz 1 0 0 0 Luke Bastian 1 0 0 0 Dylan Gass 3 0 1 0 Wyatt Haler 0 0 0 0 Aaron Mathiowetz 2 1 1 0 Adam Sellner 1 0 0 0 Derek Holm 3 0 1 0 Branden Flock 2 1 1 2 TOTALS 40 6 12 5 TOTALS 34 7 10 5 CORN BELT 020 000 130 -- 6 TOMAHAWK EAST 110 000 05x -- 7 LOB--CORN BELT 14, TOMAHAWK EAST 11. ERR--Christian Lessman, Alex Schuh, Devon Schwarzrock, Jordan Milbrath. 2B--Chris Knowles, Jackson Huiras. HR--Joseph Liebl, Branden Flock, Winsten Nienhaus. HBP--Jimmy Woelfel, Zeke Walton, Zach Reierson, Chris Knowles. SB--Alex Schuh, Wyatt Haler. CORN BELT IP H R ER BB SO HR Nathan Deutz 2.00 3 2 1 0 1 1 Zeke Walton 2.00 1 0 0 2 1 0 Logan Tehrfer 1.00 1 0 0 0 1 0 Joseph Liebl 1.00 0 0 0 2 0 0 Liam Kruse 1.00 0 0 0 2 1 0 Jose Ortiz 0.33 3 4 4 1 1 0 Dylan Gass (L) 0.67 2 1 1 0 0 0 TOMAHAWK EAST Mark Anderson 1.00 1 0 0 0 1 0 Sam Keckeisen 2.00 4 2 2 2 2 1 Marcus Martinez 1.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 Nolan Drill 2.00 0 0 0 1 3 0 Mark Schommer 1.67 5 4 3 1 3 1 Jordan Milbrath (W) 1.33 1 0 0 0 1 0 PB--Jimmy Woelfel. WP--Zeke Walton. SO--Connor Neubeck (2), Dylan Gass, Cody Wichmann, Deagan Maurice, Josh Kraft, Liam Kruse, Zach Reierson, Joseph Liebl, Aaron Mathiowetz, Nathan Vance, Cole Ranweiler, Teddy Giefer, Zach Haala, Adam Sellner. BB--Ryan Schwagel, Christian Lessman, Shawn Dollerschell, Brock Schultz, Chris Knowles, Wyatt Haler, Nolan Drill, Jackson Huiras, Zach Haala (2), Adam Sellner. NOTES: MVP: Chris Knowles
Sat., July 11, 2026 - Tomahawk East vs Corn Belt All-Star Game at St. James (PDF)
7/11/26 - Tomahawk East vs Corn Belt - All-Star Game