By Bruce Karnick

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A compressed baseball season is not easy, then compress it more due to COVID and you have the raiders crazy five week schedule that culminated in them winning tow of their final three conference games.

Monday the 17th, Hastings travelled to St. Thomas Academy to take on the Cadets. STA jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first but Hastings came right back in the top of the second to tie it. Hastings took the lead in the top of the fourth 2-1 and looked like they could hold off the Cadets until the bottom of the fifth when STA scored three giving them the win 4-2. Jerry Schumacher took the loss on the mound giving up 11 hits with two walks, one strikeout and one home run allowed.

Wednesday the 19th was another road day for the Raiders travelling to Hill-Murray. As of press time, the only information available from the game was the final score. Hastings won 4-1. As a side note, it is the responsibility of the home team to report the stats to the Minnesota Baseball Hub.

Friday was the third and final road game of the week and also the final game of the conference season as Hastings travelled to take on section foe, Rosemount. Coming into the game, Rosemount was ranked sixth in the state. There is a reason why the games are played, especially in baseball, because you never know what is going to happen on the field.

But would they get the chance to play? When it comes to baseball, everything falls on the home team. You have the home field advantage, but you also need to do all the field prep before the game, close down the field at the end of the game, keep the official book, schedule the officials… oh, what was that last part?

Officially, it is not clear what happened with the officials for the game, but a game that was supposed to start at 4:15 did not actually start until 5:30 because of no game officials being present. This was the second time this week the Raiders started late due to issues with officials. Word on the street was that no umpires were scheduled for the game, so panicked phone calls needed to be made. One umpire made it in time to get the game going at 5:30, the second ump arrived after six. This is important to understand for two reasons. First, why the game started late, and you’ll find out the second shortly.

The scoreboard indicates that the game was extremely boring, but that is where being at the game is key. This game was far from boring. Both teams played hard and had many chances to score the entire game, but a great defensive play here, a key sequence of pitches there and both teams held each other to a 0-0 tie headed into the seventh.

That is when leadoff batter Jake Sandquist was walked. Joe Schuster was put in for Sandquist as a courtesy runner at first. That brought up Ben Teigland. Teigland was walked. Now there were two men on with no outs. Connor Stoffel was walked loading the bases for Eddie Peine.

Rosemount made a pitching change, and this guy threw hard. It was a huge change of pace to go from a guy the players had seen at least twice, to a guy throwing low 80’s. Peine stepped in and had a quality at bat fouling fastballs off and fighting to stay alive. That is when controversy struck. Peine swung and appeared to have fouled the ball off once again, but it sounded different. It was not the normal TING! You hear when a fould ball comes off an aluminum bat. The sound was more of a dull thud, the sound of an aluminum bat hitting leather, the leather on the catcher’s mitt. Coaches and fans alike started calling out for catcher’s interference.

Now, remember, these umpires are here on an emergency basis. If it was a scheduling mistake on the umpire’s association or if it was a mistake on the home teams’ part, it didn’t matter, they dropped what they were doing, grabbed their gear and rushed from work straight to the ballpark to help two high schools play a game. And they had a huge decision to make. Was there catcher’s interference. If yes, then the batter would be awarded first base with the bases already loaded. That means, a run would be scored on the play. The two umpires had to sort it out with parents on both sides chirping very loudly from the stands.

After what seemed like five minutes of deliberation, catcher’s interference was the call, and the Raiders now had a 1-0 lead. It was the right call to make, unfortunate for Rosemount, but the right call none the less. At that point, the Irish fans lost it. Many of the things said at the stadium cannot be reprinted in the paper, but let’s just say, the things heard from the mouths of adults at a youth game were despicable.

There is a reason there is a shortage of officials all over the place and the number one reason is jerk parents. Yes, you read that correctly, parents that cannot be adults, parents that feel the need to threaten violence against officials or say disgusting things all because they do not agree with a call.

Here’s the deal. If you are one of those parents, you have three choices. 1. Stop going to youth games because you are not welcome there if that is how you behave. You are an embarrassment to your team, other fans, and most importantly, your child. 2. Apply to be an official. You obviously think you can do better, so you might as well prove it and get paid. 3. If you are not going to apply to be an official, sit down and zip it.

Ok, with that out of the way, back to the game. Hastings has the lead 1-0 with bases loaded. Rosemount wiggled out of that pickle allowing only the one run. Which brings us to the bottom of the seventh.

Schumacher had been pitching extremely well and was holding on to the shut out. After logging two outs in the seventh, Hastings was forced to do a pitching change because Schumacher was out of pitches. That brought Stoffel to the mound to face one of the best hitters in the state. Stoffel completed his warmup and threw one pitch. That pitch was a hard-hit ground ball that allowed the Raiders to end the game with a 1-0 victory over a section opponent that is highly ranked in the state.

Hastings moved to 11-8 overall and 9-7 in the conference and currently sits in fourth place behind Hill-Murray, Mahtomedi and St. Thomas Academy.

The Raiders have one more game for the regular season, a non-conference game against Park of Cottage Grove, Wednesday, May 26th at Veterans Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 with Senior Night activities starting around 6:40. Let’s pack the park against Park and cheer on the Raider Seniors as they warm up for sections.

The Raiders pulled off a huge upset over the number six ranked Rosemount Irish on Friday night. “This was a full team win,” according to Head Coach Taylor Pagel. The Raiders beat the Irish 1-0 in Rosemount. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Jerry Schumacher pitched a gem of a game against Rosemount, holding one of the top offenses in the state to just four hits. Photo by Bruce Karnick