Merchants make state finals, finish runner-up

HAYWARD - The close losses the Osseo Merchants took throughout the 2025 season transformed into wins during the Wisconsin Baseball Association (WBA) playoffs these past two weeks.

That continued last weekend at Larry Sommerville Park in Hayward, home of the Class A State Tournament. Osseo edged Cadott in the quarterfinals by a single run 4-3 and Wisconsin Rapids in the semifinals 7-6 and were oh so close to pulling off their first state championship in their first state finals since they won it all in 2018.

"The ball rolled our way a few times, but I think we had more go wrong this weekend than what went right. The injury bug got us in the semis, but we still found a way to beat a very good Rapids team & be within a run of the State Championship. " Osseo player/manager Aaron Hagberg said.

But River Falls edged the Merchants 8-7 in an exciting late afternoon ballgame on Sunday, Aug. 17 in a tournament weekend plagued by bad weather. The Fighting Fish won their second state title in a row, their fourth since 2020 and fifth in club history.

Tournament MVP on offense Lucas Luedtke, who went 5-for-5 at the plater for RF, hit a key two-RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to make a 6-5 score for the Fish an 8-5 margin. Osseo plated two runs in their last at bats to get within a run thanks to an error and an RBI-single by pinch-hitter Hunter Sandberg. The Merchants loaded the bases with two outs but were unable to bring the tying or winning runs home.

In fact, they had loaded the bases in both the eighth and ninth innings but managed to score just three runs out of a potential eight.

"We knew going into the game we were going to need to score some runs. Limit strikeouts, put the ball in play, and see what happens." Hagberg said. "Freitag’s leadoff homerun in the 1st set the tone, and Eide kept us in the ball game yet again. There were a two hard hit balls with runners in scoring position that were hit directly to fielders, but that’s baseball."

Osseo scored the game's first run in their first at bats when Ryan Freitag blasted a over 300-foot home run into deep right field. Jesse Brockman hit an RBI-single to give the Merchants a 2-0 lead in the first.

Luedtke hit a single that was part of a three-run first for the Fish and he put his team ahead again in the second 5-3 after a two-run homer when Osseo had tied the score the same inning on Cal Freitag's RBI-single.

Another RBI by Luedtke, this in the fourth inning, made the score 6-3. Osseo rallied back by getting runs from Brockman on an RBI-double from DH Alex Byom with two outs in the fifth and Cal Freitag scored in the sixth on Brockman's RBI-sacrifice.

Brockman, a shortstop, was named the tournament's defensive MVP as he made a pair of top-notch defensive plays in the game to get outs. The Eau Claire Bears' Hunter Guenther was the tournament's top pitcher.

Osseo did win the tournament's sportsmanship award. The Merchants won their quarterfinal game over Cadott on Friday, Aug. 15, holding the line in the bottom of the ninth with a 4-0 lead as the Red Sox scored three runs in the inning and loaded the bases. But Byom, in relief of starter Luke Eide, got the final out to win the ballgame. Ryan Freitag and Brockman both had two hits and Scott Hovell drove in two runs. Freitag hit a double and Eide struck out seven. Osseo played Wisconsin Rapids in the semifinals early Sunday meeting. The Merchants notched the win with the winning run scored in the ninth. Hovell was the hero of Game 2 - throwing six innings of one run baseball, he had only thrown 8.2 innings up to that point this season after injuries took Byom and reliever Shane Sosinski.

*I believe he would be a #1/2 starter on most teams & goes to show the pitching depth we have," Hagberg said.

Brockman led Osseo with three hits while Ryan Freitag and Sandberg scored twice.

River Falls topped Tilden 11-3 in the quarterfinals and beat the Bears 6-5 in 12 innings. The Bears blanked Everest 4-0 in a quarterfinal ballgame and Rapids downed Spring Valley 6-2.

Osseo played twice on Sunday as Saturday's quarterfinal games were delayed due to heavy rains.

While Osseo fell short the Chippewa River Baseball League (CRBL) did claim a WBA championship as the Whitehall Whitetails, in their first season in existence, defeated defending champ Osceola to claim the Class B title in the state tournament played in Augusta at Jan Krueger Memorial Park last weekend.

"The CRBL is the strongest it’s been since I’ve been involved, the stiff competition (along with ten one-run ball games we had during league play) prepared us for the tournament," Hagberg said,