COUGAR BASEBALL

The 2010 Cougar varsity baseball team celebrated the most successful season in their five year history with a banquet at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club on the evening of June 8^th .  Head Coach Mark Zeise served as the master of ceremonies, handing out awards, recognizing player attributes and providing words of wisdom about the importance of  “the team.”  The event was marked with class and recognition of a job well-done.

Several players were recognized for special awards.  Grant Mitchell and Will Lundquist were voted by Lake Conference coaches as first team all-conference.  Mitchell, a Senior, noted to have been hampered by injuries in prior years, played every inning at second base during the 2010 year.  He tied for the team lead in doubles and was second in many other offensive categories including hits, batting average, slugging percentage, and on base percentage.  As a fielder, Mitchell tied for the team lead in assists and only made 4 errors at the difficult middle infield position.  His season highlights include a 4 hit game against Northfield on May 1^st and 9 errorless fielding chances against Henry Sibley on May 28^th, when he seemingly covered all the ground between 1^st and 2^nd base.  Mitchell had a busy 2009-10 sports season excelling at wide receiver in football and as a guard in basketball.

Will Lundquist rewrote almost every pitching record in the Cougar record book in his first varsity season.  The sophomore right-hander notched 6 wins, 5 complete games, had an ERA of 2.92, 41 strikeouts in 48 innings pitched.  His season was highlighted by a 3-hitter in the Cougars first win ever over Apple Valley on May 17^th and an 11 strikeout  performance against Chanhassen on May 22^nd.  He won 3 games in a 7 day stretch beginning on April 29^th.  Lundquist also was the losing pitcher in a 2-hit effort against Rosemount on May 10th.  Coach Zeise noted that it is indeed rare for a sophomore to be recognized for such an  award in Lake Conference baseball.

Grant Mitchell and Will Lundquist

Senior shortstop Dan Noehring, and Juniors Matt Heilmann and Alex Continenza received Honorable Mention all-conference awards.

The award for Most Improved Player went to Junior right-handed pitcher Nate Gelle.  Dan Noehring was voted the “Team Player” award.  Mitchell was selected as the Most Valuable Player.

The 2010 Cougar “Boys of Spring” set several team records and firsts.  Most wins in a season -10; Most Conference wins -7; hosted first State Playoff Section game – Henry Sibley, May 28, 2010 (Cougars won 4-1); Fewest errors as a team – 48; Highest fielding percentage -.931; lowest team ERA 4.94.

Individual season records were set in the following categories: On Base Percentage – .466, Alex Continenza;  Home Runs – 2, Continenza  (tied, Andrew Maher); Triples - 2, Chane Donnelly;  Stolen Bases – 7, Dan Noehring; Hit By Pitch -7, Continenza;  Earned Run Average -  2.92, William Lundquist;  Wins - 6*, Lundquist; Complete Games – 5*, Lundquist; Saves - 2, Luke Sleeper (tied, several).

Lakeville South Cougar career records were set in the following categories: Hits – 61, Noehring; Doubles – 12, Noehring; Stolen Bases – 15, Noehring; Home Runs – 3, Continenza.

Individual game records were set in the following categories: Hits – 4, Grant Mitchell and Matthew Heilmann (at Northfield, May 1, 2010); Strikeouts – 11, Lundquist (vs. Chanhassen at Lake Almagnet Park, May 22, 2010).

The future looks promising  for the Cougar program as well. Sophomore coach, Kirk Golberg, recognized the sophomores noting their 15-3 record.  Coach Paul Schmidtke, recognized the Juniors Varsity citing their 9-9 record during the year.

At the conclusion of the event, Coach Zeise was recognized for the 24 years of service as head baseball coach for Lakeville High Schools.  He previously announced during the year, this would be  his last as head coach.  Notable were Lakeville Panther state championships in 2005 and statewide Coach of the Year awards.  He also coached the Panthers to a runnerup finish in 2000 state tournament.  Two of his former players were high draft picks in the 2010 Major League draft.

Coach Mark Zeise

Varsity pitching coach Jake Groff remarked that the one attribute he would always remember about Coach Zeise was his ability to be incredibly positive even in the worst  moments of a losing season.  Groff summed up the veteran coach’s career this way: “For Coach Zeise it wasn’t about the wins and the losses, it was always about the players.”

*Also noted as Career records

June 1, 2010

Behind the solid pitching effort of Senior Luke Sleeper, the Cougars defeated the Henry Sibley Warriors 4-1 in the first round of Section 3AAA state playoffs.  Second baseman Grant Mitchell sparkled defensively as he played a part in recording 9 of the 21 Warrior outs.  Dan Noehring, Chane Donnelly and Derek Buermann provided the offensive spark to extend the Cougars winningest season and propel them on to the section quarterfinals.   The game was played at Fredrickson Field in Elko on Friday May 28th under sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 80s.

Noehring led off the bottom of the first by taking ball four and then stealing second.  Donnelly followed with a RBI single to get the Cougars on the board early. The next time around the order in the third inning, Noehring singled and Donnelly knocked him again, blasting a  triple to the right center gap.  Donnelly scored on Matt Heilmann’s ground out staking the Cougars to a 3-0 lead.  The Warriors finally touched the Cougars for an unearned run in the top of the fourth.  The Warriors scoring threat was squelched by a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.  Leading off the bottom of the inning, Buermann quickly responded by clouting a towering drive over the left field fence to get the Cougars back to the 3 run advantage.  The Junior, in the lineup as the designated hitter, connected on 3-0 count to dead straight away left field.

Meanwhile, Sleeper was sharp on the mound, mixing his pitches effectively to hold the Warriors to one unearned run on four hits in 5 and 2/3rds innings.  The game was not without some drama however, as the Warriors loaded the bases in the top of the 6th aided by a fielding miscue.  Will Lundquist took over in relief and threw one pitch to entice a line out to Heilmann in foul territory to end the threat.  Lundquist recorded his first save retiring the Warriors in order in the 7th.  Donnelly was 3 for 3 as the team collected 8 hits.

The Cougars (10 –11) will meet the #1 seeded St. Thomas Academy  in a quarterfinal matchup at the Cadets home field.  The Cadets are 17-2 and ranked 3rd in the State in 3AAA.

Tuesday’s quarterfinal  matchup in Section 3AAA is rescheduled  to Wednesday June 2, 4:30pm at St. Thomas.  Good Luck Cougaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrzzzzzz!!!

The section 3AAA pairings are posted.  Our Lakeville South Cougars were named the #8 seed and will host the #9 seed, Henry Sibley Warriors, at Elko, Friday, May 28th at 5:30pm. The Warriors finished their conference season tied for 6th place with North St. Paul in the Classic Suburban.  The Polars were the only common opponent during the regular season.  Both teams finished strong in regular season action as the Warriors won their last 3 games to bring their overall record to 9-11.  The winner of this game will play #1 seed St. Thomas Academy on June 1st at 4:30pm.  Full pairings are listed on the Minnesota State High School website:

http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/showXMLbrackets.asp?tournid=150&bracket=5083

The 2010 Lake Conference Showcase was played on Saturday, May 22nd at Lake Alimagnet Park in Burnsville.  The event was organized to feature all Lake Conference baseball teams in one location for the last regular season game.  However, thundershowers took stage and dampened the plan  as morning games were canceled.   Cool windy spring temperatures managed to climb into the steamy 80s and dry out all wet spots by the end of the 2:00pm games.  Nonetheless, the Cougars completed their best week ever by defeating the Chanhassen Storm 4-1 in a rematch, winning 3 out of 4 conference games in the 5-day stretch.  The Cougars regular season was complete with a record setting 9th win, setting the bar just a bit higher for next year!

The Cougars were designated the home team in the rematch with the Storm.  Will Lundquist retired the Storm on 4 pitches in the first inning, all strikes.  Chane Donnelly opened the bottom of the inning with a double over the outstretched left fielder as the ball went all the way to the fence on the wet field.  He scored on ground outs by Dan Noehring and Matt Heilmann, the later picking up the RBI.   The Storm tied the game in the 3rd and the Cougars quickly responded by retaking the lead in their half of the inning.   Grant Mitchell reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second and scored on Noehring’s RBI single.  The next time around the order in the bottom of the 5th, Mitchell and Noehirng both scored on Alex Continenza’s RBI single, running the score to 4-1.

Lundquist completed the contest by striking out the last 5 Storm batters.     The sophomore hurler notched his 6th win, his 5th complete game and set a Cougar single game record with 11 strikeouts.

Our Lakeville South Cougars will face the Chanhassen Storm, 5/22/10, 2:00pm, field #2 at Alimagnet Park in Burnsville located two blocks north of County Road 42 on County Road 11.  From the North:   Take 35E or 35E and exit at Co Rd 42 and go east to Co Rd 11 (left turn) to Park entrance on the right.  From the South: Take 35E to Co Rd 42 exit and follow the same directions.

The Lake Conference is charging admission for this event — $7/adult, $5/student. Other games are listed on the  Lake Conference website: http://www.lakeconference.org/g5-bin/client.cgi

With victories on two of the nicest warm sunny May days one could envision, the 2010 Cougars became the winningest team in its short five year history by defeating two very good opponents.    On May 17th, the Cougars defeated the Apple Valley Eagles 5-1 behind the nifty 3- hit pitching effort of Will Lundquist.  The next day, the Cougars returned home and notched a 4-3 win over the Eagan Wildcats.  The wins bring the Cougars record to 8-10, breaking the previous mark of 7 wins by the 2009 team.

The game at Apple Valley was a nail biter until the 4th inning with the Cougars blowing scoring opportunities early in the game.  Junior right fielder Matt Zellmer led off with a single.  Grant Mitchell walked and Chane Donnelly singled to left loading the bases.  One fielder’s choice ground out later, Mitchell broke the ice by scoring on a wild pitch.  Donnelly scored later on an error by the  Eagle shortstop.  The Cougars added one more in the fifth and two in the seventh.  Meanwhile,  Lundquist had totally shut down the high scoring Eagle offense on one hit through 6 innings.  While the Eagles managed to break-up the shutout by scoring one meaningless run in the 7th, Lundquist completed the game picking up his 5th win.

In the game against Eagan, the Cougars broke through with a 4 run 2nd inning.  Dan Noehring led off the action with a one out single.  Joe Zander walked and Zellmer put himself in the middle of another rally by knocking in Noehring. Senior first baseman Taylor Jans walked.  Donnelly delivered the big blow with a 2 run single; Jans advancing to third.  On the first-and-third play, Jans stole home for the 4th run of the inning.   This is all the runs they would need as the Cougars again benefitted from effective pitching from Matt Heilman, Nate Gelle and Luke Sleeper.  Heilman recorded his 2nd win.  The win was not without game ending drama as Sleeper earned his second save with two Wildcats on.

Notes:  Seniors Noerhing and Donnelly combined for  7 hits in the two games.  The Cougars scored 5 runs on 10 hits against Apple Valley and scored 4 runs on 4 hits against Eagan.  The win on Monday against Apple Valley was the first time the Cougars have defeated Eagle team coached by two Lakeville teachers, Al Iverson and Corey Kennedy.

Bring on the regular season finale versus North at Elko.

On a cold and windy night in Chanhassen, the Cougar hitters came out sizzling and defeated the Storm 11-1 in 5 innings.    The Cougars took control before the Storm even had a chance to be in the game scoring 8 runs on six hits in the first inning.  The game was played under the lights in the plush new Chanhassen Stadium which conveniently blocked the wind to keep the spectators as happy as the team with the hitting shoes on.
Junior third baseman Derek Buermann looked at 2 strikes and then led off the action with a one-out single.  Junior right fielder Alex Continenza drove a double deep to the left center gap knocking in Buermann and advancing Junior first baseman Matt Heilman to third.  Captain senior catcher Joe Zander singled driving in two more.  Senior second baseman Grant Mitchell singled in Zander.  Then the big blow came when bases were reloaded for senior left-fielder Chane Donnelly’s second at bat of the inning as he cracked a double to the right center gap, clearing the bases.  Cougars 8-0, the Storm coming to bat.

The Cougars scored 3 more in the top of the 5th, again Buermann starting the rally with a single and Sophomore pitcher Will Lundquist driving in the 11th run while batting for his DH.  Lundquist finished the action by striking out the side in order in the bottom of the inning to complete the 10 run thumping.

The Cougar record climbs to 6-7.  All Cougar batters who stepped to the plate knocked out a hit or drove in a run as the team collected 12 hits total.  Donnelly, Zander, and Continenza picked up multiple RBIs and Buermann, Continenza and Mitchell had 2 hits apiece.  Lundquist picked up his 4th win courtesy of the Cougar offense.  Back home to meet first place Eden Prairie for the 3RD game of the week.

May 3, 2010

On a cloudy sometimes drizzly evening, Dan Noehring lit up the sky and the crowd at Cougar Park when the Senior Captain blasted a dramatic walk-off homerun into the pond.  Most appropriately, there was a duck on as the Cougars defeated the Chaska Hawks 5-3 .

Earlier in the game, the Cougars took a 3-1 lead but the Hawks fought back to tie the score in the top of the 6th.  In the top of the 7th, the Hawks led off  with a double.  Sophomore pitcher, Will Lundquist, then took over in relief and proceeded to strike out the side, stranding the Hawk runner at second base.   In the bottom of the inning,  Junior Matt Heilman led-off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error.   One out later, Noehring stepped up, seemingly having a miserable day at the plate after striking out earlier and bunting into a double play.  He took called strike one and then drove a curve ball deep into the evening sky.  As the ball disappeared over the left-center fence, loud cheers rang out emphasizing the drama.

The Cougars season record climbed to 5 wins 7 losses, 3 and 6 in the conference.  Lundquist notched his 3rd win of the season.  The team looks forward to their next game at the plush Chanhassen Stadium for a Cinco de Mayo match-up with the Storm.

Click here to view our current stats. http://baseball.iscorecentral.com/main.php?t=lakevillesouth&nc=842495