Rebels baseball opens season with two road wins

The Armstrong High School baseball team hosted Champlin Park last week in the season opener. The game ended with the latter team falling 3-2 to the Rebels in a competitive and energetic game that showed promise for both rosters.

The night started strong for Champlin Park, who picked up two runs in the top of the first after loading the bases with Chase Oxborough, Aaron Coan, and Brockton Sandell. Oxborough jogged to home plate following an error and Max Janisch hit an RBI for Aaron Coan, giving the Rebels a 2-0 lead which lasted until the bottom of the fourth.

In that time, Champlin Park’s Preston Thielke and Armstrong’s Will Hoffrogge and Sam Schultz showed their pitching ability, holding one another’s teams at bay. Janisch was a stable figure for the Rebels at first base, as was the case for Dayton Franke, who managed a strong connection with Harrison Boughton at third base to earn two outs in the top of the third.

Armstrong eventually found an answer to the early runs with an impact at-bat from Franke, who hit a triple to get things started. AJ Kuebelbeck then hit an RBI double, getting Franke home. Thielke pitched well, combining with Janisch twice to get the outs necessary and keep Champlin Park ahead 2-1.

The Falcons added another run in the fifth, this time for Matt Sweeney through an RBI double from Dawson Franke, making it 2-2 despite good pitching from sophomore Donovan Vendel.

The Rebels found its winner in the top of the seventh, loading the bases once again with Oxborough, Coan, and Sandell. Jack Schultz came in to pitch for Armstrong and did well, getting an early out. Janisch, however, was hit by a pitch, allowing for a walk by Oxborough. The Rebels managed the game from there, with spot on pitching from Vendel and Carlson closing out the game.

Armstrong head coach Brian Sobiech noted that the Falcons showed promising work ethic and resilience despite the end result not going their way.

“We’re happy with how we handled adversity. ... It’s important for our guys to have toughness and we’ve been preaching that a lot. They showed that today,” he said. “Unfortunately we weren’t putting the ball in play as much as we wanted to. Our pitchers did a great job keeping them off the board after the first inning and getting themselves out of jams.”

Sobiech also noted that Armstrong’s young core for the 2024 season is on a promising journey this season, with growth already showing in game one.

“We’re young. We’ve only got a few guys returning with varsity at-bats, so we expected a challenge,” Sobiech said. “We’ve seen growth already and today our pitchers showed that growth. I’m proud of what they were able to do.”

Ryan Tohm, Champlin Park’s head coach, spoke to the Rebels’ strong start to the season, securing two wins from road trips after beating River Falls earlier last week.

“We’re definitely happy to come out of week one with two wins. ... Just getting back to playing baseball and seeing what we got,” Tohm explained. “I thought the boys played well. We brought a few extra guys tonight and they brought great energy. I like how the team feels right now.”

Tohm noted that Champlin Park’s younger players showed up in a big way in the win against Armstrong, both in play and from the dugout.

“We’ve got some young guys that are helping us out,” he said. “Some of these guys were on the freshmen team last year, I don’t get to see a lot of them much, so it’s great to see guys like Donovan Vendel come in. He pitched awesome, he’s a sophomore and we’ve got two more behind the plate and in center field. It’s great to see what they can do against varsity talent.”

Champlin Park has two games on the schedule for the following week. The team traveled to Blaine on April 9 (after this edition went to press), and will host Spring Lake Park on Thursday, April 11.

Armstrong has four games slated the following week. The team traveled to Hopkins and Totino-Grace on April 8 and 9, will host Anoka on Thursday, April 11 and travel again to Spring Lake Park on Friday, April 12.

Rebels at River Falls

Champlin Park baseball started their 2023-24 season in style last week, traveling across the St. Croix River to play River Falls at First National Bank Stadium, eventually beating the Wildcats 9-5.

Designated hitter Brady Schornstein earned the first base for Champlin Park for the season, reaching first base after a crisp hit to the right side following two teammates being struck out in the top of the first. Two at-bats later, however, Schornstein was tagged out to conclude the first inning of the 2023-24 season. Thus began Preston Thielke’s return to the mound for the season.

The stalemate continued into the bottom of the third inning, though Champlin Park came close to loading the bases at the top of that inning. River Falls eventually struck the first blow, scoring two runs. A walk for Schornstein got a promising run started. Sandell then hit a double to bat in a run for Schornstein, beginning the Rebels’ response in the top of the fourth.

Champlin Park kept the pressure on, loading the bases. A hit for Cal Okuly batted in runs for Sandell and Coan from third and second base, completing a two RBI double for Okuly. The Rebels now led 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth.

After River Falls tied up the game at 3-3 at the bottom of the fourth, loaded the bases once again, this time with three walks. Oxborough got the first run of the inning, walking to home plate. A floating hit into left field from Okuly opened the doors again, providing runs for Schornstein and Sandell.

Nick Carlson completed a blockbuster fifth inning for Champlin Park, picking up a three RBI hit before getting tagged out at third base himself. Champlin Park now led 9-3.

River Falls eventually picked up two runs in the bottom of the fifth, now with Tanner Wylie at the mound for the Rebels, but the comeback was not meant to be as the Rebels secured an opening day win.