Bulson makes an impact on Springers' 2000 title season

Written for 2002 State Tournament Program

By Tom Elliott
St. Cloud Times

The Cold Spring Springers made one key addition to their 2000 club, and what a wonderfully important player he turned out to be.

Andy Bulson, a left-handed pitcher and outfielder, came over to Cold Spring after St. Cloud O’Hara’s folded. A native of Austin, Bulson was a top player at St. Cloud State and one opponent the Springers always worried about whenever they faced him.

In 2000, Bulson was on their side.

"It was the first year of Andy Bulson," said Dave Hinkemeyer, the Springers’ manager. "He ended up being huge for us."

Cold Spring won its sixth state Class B title in Sleepy Eye by beating the Rochester Royals 18-1 in a game called after seven innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. Rochester had forced that game earlier in the day of Monday, Sept. 2, by beating Cold Spring 5-4.

In both games, Bulson pitched. He ended up being the state tournament MVP. He went 3-0 in the tournament, pitching 34 innings. He gave up nine earned runs (a 2.38 ERA) with 22 strikeouts and three walks.

"I remember being really nervous about playing Rochester," said Springers first baseman Matt Butala. "They were a pretty decent club and after that first one, we didn’t know if we could beat them or not."

They could, rather easily.

Josh Loesch and Ben Griffin hit first-inning homers. Loesch another homer in the third and Bulson came through with a couple himself.

Cold Spring, which finished 40-5, had advanced to the championship bracket in Sleepy Eye by blasting Jordan 16-8.

The Springers opened the tournament with a 6-2 win over Shakopee. Then came a 3-1 victory over Hamel in the second round. The Springers played the Marshall A’s next and won, 12-7.

Then came the Jordan game, then the split with Rochester ... and another title.

"We knew Andy would hold them down," Cold Spring first baseman Gabe Dahl told Mick Hatten of the St. Cloud Times after the title game. "I can’t put it into words -- he won three games, two games this weekend. All you can say is ‘MVP.’ "

The 2000 club featured Rod Schafer (.304 in the regular season) at catcher. Butala (.390) or Dahl (.418) handled first. Dahl also caught.

Steve Taylor (.423) usually started at second base. Russ Huls (.333) also played some second. He came back to the club after playing in St. Michael and moving back to Cold Spring. The shortstop was Ron Terres (.394). At third base was Darren Heying (.430), an excellent young player who was starring at Bellmont Abbey College in North Carolina. Utility infielder was Jason Spohn (.327).

The outfielder featured former Minnesota Gopher Ben Griffin (.456), Josh Loesch (.466) and Bill Theis (.284).

Others on the roster were outfielders Chris Hinkemeyer (.200), Ryan Mathre (.250), Mark Keul (.310) and Dwight Kotila (.233).

The pitching staff featured Bulson, Todd Steil, Zach Femrite and Dave Schlangen. Butala, Taylor and Huls also threw on occasion, as did Hinkemeyer.

"I think, what you saw from 1986 to 2000 was that the young guys became the old guys," Hinkemeyer said. "Russ Huls and Ron Terres were the young guys in ‘86. Now, they’re the old guys. Guys like Darren Heying and Gabe Dahl were the young guys. Getting those young guys in there is a big thing for us. Hopefully, 10 years from know, we’ll keep saying the same thing. Darren and the young guys now will be the old guys that the young guys look up to."