File photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye Post 7’s Brandon Schmitz delivers a pitch during a Division II Southwest Sub-State tournament game on July 13 at Veterans Park in St. James.

ROSEAU — After a nearly 20-year drought, Sleepy Eye Post 7 returns to the American Legion Baseball State Tournament this season.

Last time, in 2004, Sleepy Eye made it as a Division I team, but went 0-2, ending their run quickly. This season, as a Division II team, Sleepy Eye hopes to find more success as it opens the tournament Friday against the hosting team, Roseau, at 7:30 p.m.

Head coach Zach Haala said that he didn’t know much about Roseau, but he did know they would still be a tough team to beat.

“You look and see they got an automatic bid, being the host,” Haala said. “But I’m sure they’re going to be a tough opponent. They’re currently ranked number three in the state for Division II teams, I know they had a very good record on the season, but they’re tough to judge. I know they have a pretty good senior class, but they’re tough to judge because they haven’t played any of the teams we’ve played, so I don’t know what kind of competition they’ve had, whether it’s better or worse, it’s tough to say. But I’m sure they’re going to be a tough opponent in any case.”

Sleepy Eye went 15-7 this season, relying on great pitching and defense to find success. Leading the group is Nick Mielke with 38 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.03 in 35 2/3 innings pitched, all team highs, achieving a 3-0 record.

Also giving strong seasons were Winston Neinhaus, Brandon Schmitz and Mark Anderson. Neinhaus had a 3-0 record with 10 strikeouts and a 1.05 ERA in 20 innings pitched, Schmitz went 3-1 with eight strikeouts and a 1.29 ERA in 16 1/3 innings, and Anderson was 2-2 with 18 strikeouts and a 4.14 ERA in 23 2/3 innings pitched.

“The biggest factor that played into our success this year was our pitching,” Haala said. “We had a number of qualified starters at pitcher that had very good statistics on a number of levels. We played a very tough schedule as far as a Division II team goes, so for our pitching to have the stats that they did is really impressive.”

While the defense was the highlight of the season, the offense did its job as well. Lead-off hitter Austin Uecker leads the team in batting average (.411) is tied for the team lead in hits (23) and is second on the team in RBIs (16), while Caden Evers bats cleanup with a .383 batting average, 23 hits and 14 RBIs. Evers also got the game-winning hit against Windom in the American Legion Division II Southwest Sub-State Championship.

However, Haala believes the offense needs to bring its best to the state tournament if they are going to make a run at the state title.

“Pitching is our main thing, so we need to be able to continue to throw strikes, play good defense.” Haala said. “But for us, realistically the biggest thing is going to be to get our bats going. We’ve hit alright this season, but that’s definitely something we’ve had to build upon as the season has gone on. We’ve had some games that have been very close, very low scoring. That’s going to be a key factor.”

Those interested in Sleepy Eye’s first game can tune into KNUJ SAM 107.3, who will be calling the action. More information on the tournament can be found on minnesotalegionbaseball.com.