This spring, area town baseball teams in the Dakota-Rice-Scott League have returned to the diamond for another season ending with New Prague being one of the communities hosting state tournament games.
Area teams were asked about their prospects for the season which started last month. Those which responded are listed below. The New Prague Times will begin covering area teams in greater depth as the high school seasons end.
New Prague
The Orioles finished the 2025 season at 11- 10 in DRS play, 12-12 overall. The Orioles fell one game short of qualifying for the state tournament in the playoffs. Eric Wagner bats near the top of the order and often starts an Orioles’ rally. James Fuerniss batted .545 last season. He’s one of the top first basemen in the league but we move him to many positions including pitcher. Gavin Bergman is another top hitter and pitcher. He batted .425 last year at the plate and averaged 12 strikeouts per game last season. Tom McBroom batted .364 and played a solid centerfield.
Anthony Mader is known for strong defense and bringing intensity to every game at the catcher position. He had a nice season last year offensively with an on-base percentage close to .400. Matt Zweber is back after a year off recovering from injury and will be an important pitcher for the O’s. Brody Isley was another top pitcher for us last year until an injury put him on the IR for much of the season. Cam Prochaska played solid at first base and the outfield last year and we look for him to have big year. Jake Deutsch, Ben Schmitz, Aidan Dorzinski, Simon Kajer and Beau Plaisance have all played key rolls at infield positions.
“We have been a young team for several years but now many of our starters are in their early- to mid-20s. We need to take the next step and become more consistent,” said Orioles manager Nick Schoenecker. “We’ve had some growing pains making mental errors in the past that have hurt us in big games. Our core veteran groups need to take the lead and gel with our young players. We are excited about many of our young players like Kole Wagner, Brayden Pakiz, Derek Aasen, Hunter LeCuyer, Austin Wilson, Rev Tietz, Joey Freindshuh to compete for playing time and contribute in big ways.”
The Orioles topped Montgomery, 11-10, Sunday, May 10. Sunday, May 3, NP fell to Cologne, 10-6. Webster thumped the Orioles, 17-1, in the season-opener April 26.
Union Hill The Bulldogs finished the season at 13-3 in DRS play last summer. They fell to Cold Spring, 6-5, in the opening round of the state tournament.
Manager Dustin Steinhoff reports his team aims to have another strong season with many of the same players back for another season. The team will carry several pitchers, enough for everyone to be able to start or work in relief.
The Bulldogs defeated Faribault,11-0, May 3. They opened the season with a 6-3 win over New Market.
St. Patrick The Irish finished 19-7 overall last year, 11-3 in DRS play. Their season concluded in the Section 1 playoffs.
In 2026, St. Patrick is moving to the River Valley League and Section 2. Its section opponents are now much closer geographically, which was the impetus for the league move. As a Class A team, only the section games count for our standings for the playoffs. We have still scheduled games against three DRS teams in 2026 and will maintain close relationships to DRS League teams who have a willingness to play us, unlike a few other DRS league teams who chose not to play the Irish the past few years.
The core of the team remains intact, including hitters Jack Friedges, Ryan Friedges, Kal Brohmer, Ben Taxdahl, Seth Ambroz, Ryan Wickman and Mikey Gottschalk. The pitching staff looks to be healthier this year and will be led by Daniel Zang, Ian Segna, Zak Endres, Conner Larson, Tate Marland, Korey Dahlberg and Fritz Meyer.
St. Patrick welcomes six additional pitchers to the team in 2026, Evan Esch, Joe Ackerman, Herbie Roufs, Nick Johnson, Michael Thrune and Jack Stensrud.
In Section 2, the Irish will face Chaska Cubs, Burnsville Bobcats, Shakopee Indians and Waconia Lakers to be among the favorites in the section. Additional teams in the section include the Prior Lake Jays, Burnsville Badgers and Victoria Vics.
The Irish’s keys to success will be remaining healthy, especially within our pitching staff. They are confident their hitters will put runs on the board. St. Patrick topped St. Peter, 12-2, May 17. They outslugged Faribault, 11-8, May 10, and thumped St. Benedict, 14-4, May 3.
Elko The Express finished at 18-18 overall last summer and finished their season in the opening round of the state tournament with a 3-1 loss to Sartell.
Having lost Joe Malecha, manager Terry Fredrickson reports key players infielder TJ Evanson, pitcher Jake Petricka, outfielder Chase Hentges, catcher-outfielder Mike Fredrickson, pitcher-infielder Justin Roitman, outfielder Dillon Carlson and pitcher-infielder Easton Richter will be back for another summer.
“The young players need to step up and fill some big rolls to be successful and our pitching needs to be better,” manager Fredrickson said.
The Express will be playing in Section 1. Four teams from the section will advance to the state tournament. The Express topped the Minneapolis Cobras, 4-1 May 10, and dropped a 12-1 decision to Webster May 8.
Webster The Sox finished the regular season with a 16-5 record in the DRS league (19-7 overall). Webster qualified for the state tournament with the No. 2 seed out of our region. We lost a tough game to the Raymond Rockets, 3-0.
The strength of Webster’s team last year was its pitching staff. Jackson Renz, Nick Dorfmann, Jordon Huwe and Peter Tveite anchored the staff.
This year’s team has all players returning to the team. “We look to continue to be a solid pitching & fielding team. For the Sox to return to the state tournament again, they need to improve on their hitting and specifically being a better team driving in runs with runners in scoring position. Augie Issacson, Tviete, Jake Belille, Peter Grassl, Will Wareham, Jake Ekness, Brooks Prochaska and Will Arendt are the veterans Webster will lean on to produce at the plate. Kutter Herzig will be returning for his second year and as a rookie last year lead the team in batting average.
Webster defeated Veseli 8-0 on Sunday afternoon, May 17. Pitchers Dorfman, Matt Magnuson and Tveite surrendered only one hit. Magnuson tossed three perfect innings in his Sox debut. Offensively, Webster collected nine hits, including a home run from Tveite, two extra base hits from Will Wareham and extra base hits for Isaacson and Jack Orth.
St. Benedict The Saints have many of the same players from the 2025 squad back this year.
They thumped Lonsdale, 10-0, May 10 behind pitcher Ryan Vondracek. Pitchers Ryan VonDracek and Jared Miller combined for 13 strikeouts. Miller, Derek Albers, and Nolan Eischens each had three hits. Mitchell Martin hit a grand slam in the second inning to give the Saints an early five-run lead.
The Saints dropped a 14-4 decision to St. Patrick May 3.
Prior Lake After falling to Bird Island in the state tournament last year, the Mudcats are back this season looking to return to state.
New Market scored six runs in the sixth inning, which helped them defeat the Mudcats 8-2 Sunday, May 17, at Veterans Field at Memorial Park.
New Market Muskies opened the scoring in the third after Adam Weed hit a sacrifice fly, scoring one run. Kyle O’Connor walked, which helped PL tie the game at one in the bottom of the fourth.
New Market Muskies flipped the game on its head in the top of the sixth, scoring six runs on three hits to take the lead, 7-1. The biggest blow in the inning was a single by Josh Berreth that drove in two.
Prior Lake Mudcats scored one run in the bottom of the seventh on a solo home run to left field by Jac Campbell.
Montgomery The Mallards are off to 2-2 start this year. After a 10-4 win over Veseli April 26, they defeated Lonsdale, 10-8, May 3. The Mallards fell to New Prague, 11-8, May 10.
Under beautiful, picture-perfect skies for their home opener, the Montgomery Mallards ran into a tough matchup, dropping a 10-3 decision to the New Market Muskies Friday, May 15. New Market set the tone early in the second inning with a towering two-run home run to center field. The Muskies broke the game open in the top of the third, capitalizing on three walks and clutch hitting that extended the New Market lead to 5-0.
Montgomery showed life in the bottom of the third. Ryan Iverson ignited the crowd by blasting a double to left field off the top of the fence. Moments later, Matt Smith traded places with him, driving an RBI double to deep left to put the Mallards on the board, 5-1. Things could have looked much different for the home team early on. In the bottom of the first inning, Iverson crushed a deep fly ball that appeared destined to leave the park, but the New Market center fielder made a spectacular play, jumping to reach above the top of the fence and rob him of a home run. The Mallards manufactured a threat in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs without a hit until Kyle Hintz lined a clutch single to right field, scoring Chris Johnson and Nolan Readmond to trim the deficit to 5-3.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, defensive miscues allowed New Market to put the game out of reach. Two separate fly balls dropped during the fifth and seventh innings, added three unearned runs.