Amateur baseball is a big deal in Minnesota with 274 teams registered in the state. The 274 teams across the state are divided into three classes based on a point system used by the governing body, the Minnesota Baseball Association (MBA). The MBA made some fairly drastic changes to the classification system last year that is going to have a major impact on the Hawks schedule. Previously, the Hawks were in Class C and Class C was meant for the smaller, hometown teams. For 2025, the Hawks have been forced into Class A, which is for the larger populated areas.
Class A is for teams with 36 points or more, previously, any team with 45 points or less was part of Class C. Class B is now for teams with 20 to 35 points where previously it was for teams 46 and higher. Class C is now up to 19 points.
The points start with how the team chooses the pool for players, a team can either choose the town population or the population of the school district. Each 1,000 people are worth one population point. The Hawks use the Population of Hastings, so they start with 22 population points. The next points accumulate via player addresses. Any player who was born in Hastings and still lives there counts as zero points. A player from Cottage Grove would count as points depending on their highest level of play with Junior College counting as one point scaling up to playing in the MLB counting as five points.
The final piece of the points puzzle is success points over the last five seasons based on trips to the state tournament. For example, Miesville has a total of 23 success points from playing in the state tournament for the last five seasons. Each game won in the tournament increases the points, with winning state being five points.
Hastings is sitting just four points over the cutoff point at 39 points. The most points in Class A? the Minneapolis Cobras with 525 points. That means this could be an interesting season just based off the point differential.
The points piece is vital to understanding why the schedule looks so different this year. The Hawks are staying in the Classic Cannon Valley League (CCVL) which was made up of three Class C teams, Hastings, Red Wing and Cannon Falls, and Class B had five teams, Miesville, Hampton, Northfield, Dundas, Rochester Royals.
Now, Dundas, Miesville, Hampton and Rochester Royals are Class A along with Hastings in Section 1 along with Elko, New Market and St. Patrick. Eight teams and the section has four bids for the state tournament.
The biggest change for the schedule will be adding games against the Section 1 opponents that the Hawks have not faced in a normal season prior. Teams like New Market and St. Patrick are the two teams that Hastings has the least experience playing. Elko used to be in the CCVL years ago, but they were realigned out for a while. The remaining teams, Hastings has played quite a bit each year for a long time.
Currently, there are a total of 28 games scheduled for the season with more that could be added. 17 of those are currently scheduled to be played at Veterans Park.
The Hawks have been part of the Hastings sports scene since 1982. The organization has been a leader in improving the experience at Veterans Park with the addition of the concessions stand in 1998 which included normal restrooms. They also led the charge in acquiring both scoreboards, one in the late 90s and the current one in use just a few years ago. Another great amenity out there are the batting cages that they helped install.
The team and its board of directors maintain the field and batting cages, raise funds to make improvements, run the concessions stand, provide a fun atmosphere for as many of the teams that play there as possible and support Hastings Baseball as best they can. The City of Hastings, especially the Parks Department and Hastings Youth Athletic Association, are two of the biggest partners in the success of the Vets Park Baseball field with all three combining resources for the costly updates for all of Hastings Baseball to enjoy.