By Matt Brown
Correspondent
The 2023 Class C State Champion Maple Lake Lakers began their regular season last week with the full lineup set to return for another chance at a title. The North Star League voted during the winter to reduce to a 16 game NSL regular season schedule, down from 22 games the last few seasons. Maple Lake finished in an “even” spot (second) last season and will play Loretto, Litchfield, D-C, Howard Lake, and Waverly twice while playing Delano, Hutchinson, Buffalo, Maple Plain, Cokato, and Rockford only once. The move allows for most of the regular season to occur in June and July when college players are back while giving teams an opportunity to play against quality opponents in the surrounding area and parts beyond. Delano was picked by the coaches to win the NSL regular season title, with Maple Lake, Hutchinson, Buffalo, and Loretto rounding out the top five.
Lyon’s Pub 7
Maple Lake 0
The Lakers kicked off their 2024 regular season state title defense against Class A Lyon’s Pub Warriors on Friday, May 3. The hosts got a nice night for baseball following a week of rain and a decent crowd was out to cheer them on.
Hunter Malachek started on the mound and looked a lot like the pitcher that went 3-0 to win the state tournament MVP last fall, throwing five innings and allowing no runs on two hits, three walks, while fanning eleven batters. A tough seventh inning made the score more lopsided than the play on the field would indicate as the defense looked good, the bats just were not there.
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