Six local teams scheduled to compete
Teams from eight states and two Canadian provinces will compete starting Friday in the Gopher Classic, which bills itself as the largest American Legion baseball tournament in North America.
Ninety-six teams are registered, including six from the Sun Thisweek/Dakota County Tribune coverage area – Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eastview, Farmington, Lakeville North and Rosemount. Farmington was second in last week’s Division I state rankings, trailing only Eden Prairie, which also is in the Gopher Classic.
Players born on or after June 1, 2005, are eligible to play American Legion baseball in 2024. Most Legion team players are ages 16-19. Depending on their birthdates, it’s possible for players who already have had one season of college baseball – they’re known as “super-seniors” – to come back and play for their hometown Legion teams in the summer.
The tournament, run by the Excelsior American Legion baseball program, is in its 46th year. It begins Friday with pool play at 15 fields in the seven-county metro area and one in Mankato. Six teams will be at each site, with each team scheduled to play the other five once each.
Fredrickson Field in Elko is one of the pool-play sites, with Lakeville North serving as host team. Lakeville North’s pool-play games are against Hastings at 7 p.m. Friday; Lincoln (Nebraska) Northwest at 2 p.m. Saturday; New Ulm Gold at 7 p.m. Saturday; Rapid City, South Dakota, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday; and West Fargo, North Dakota, at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Burnsville and Rosemount were assigned to pool play at Red Haddox Field in Bloomington. Those teams will be involved in the first two games Friday, with Burnsville playing Bloomington at 9 a.m. and Rosemount taking on Burnsville at 11:30.
Eastview’s pool-play games will be at McKnight Field in North St. Paul. Farmington will play at the University of Northwestern in Roseville and Apple Valley travels to Waconia Lions Field for the pool-play weekend. For more information and tournament schedules, visit excelsiorlegionbaseball.org.
The 16 pool winners advance to the single-elimination portion of the tournament Monday, July 15. Round of 16 and quarterfinal games will be at Red Haddox Field, Round Lake Stadium in Eden Prairie, Veterans Field on the Minnetonka High School campus, and Courtney Field at Braemar Park in Edina. Semifinals and finals are Tuesday, July 16, at Veterans Field, with the championship game scheduled for 2 p.m.
Champlin defeated Papillion South of Nebraska 2-1 in the 2023 Gopher Classic championship game. None of the Dakota County teams reached the knockout rounds of the tournament.
Legion playoffs
Regardless of how local teams fare, the tournament should be good preparation for the upcoming state Legion playoffs. Division I Sub-State playoffs begin the week of July 22, with champions advancing to the state tournament beginning Aug. 1 in Maple Grove, Osseo, St. Michael and Delano. St. Michael is two-time Division I state champion.
The Minnesota champion and runner-up will advance to the Central Plains Regional beginning Aug. 7 in Fargo, North Dakota. There, the Minnesota teams will compete against teams from North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska for a place in the American Legion World Series that starts Aug. 15 in Shelby, North Carolina.
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