Nelson County's American Legion team is a high school baseball melting pot.
The team has players from five towns and four high schools in its regular starting lineup. That covers an area from Fordville in the northeast to Glenfield in the southwest. The team is based in Tolna, where it practices and plays games.
"It's fun," Nelson County coach Brent Luehring said. "We get the kids who want to play and succeed, who want to get better.
"We wouldn't be able to have a team without all these guys. We only have six kids from the Dakota Prairie school district on our roster."
The starting lineup includes three players from Dakota Prairie High School (Logan Lund and Dalton Flaagan of Tolna and Colton Anderson of Michigan), three from Griggs County Central in Cooperstown (Kris Wathne, Hunter Engel and Riley Nelson), two from Midkota (Austin Monson and Dakota Hoyt, both from Glenfield) and one from Fordville-Lankin (Nathan Linstad).
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Linstad is a newcomer. He graduated from high school in 2012, previously playing Legion ball at Midway-Minto. That program folded this summer and Linstad works in the Petersburg-Michigan area, so Nelson County is the closest program. He received state permission to play at Nelson County.
"Except for Linstad, all these guys have played together for years," Luehring said. "They started playing with our program when they were probably 10 to 12 years old, when their hometowns didn't have teams."
The team has 40 games scheduled this summer and also practices in Tolna at least once a week. For the players, Luehring, the travel is no different than what they're used to in high school.
Linstad and Lund played college baseball last spring. Monson and Anderson, high school graduates this spring, have committed to play college ball as well.
Seven of nine starters return from last season's team that finished second in the North Dakota Section 4 tournament to eventual Class B state champion Grafton. Nelson County is off to an 18-4 start. The team won the Valley City Leever's Classic last weekend, outscoring opponents 32-7 in three games.
"We haven't hit the ball real well," Luehring said. "But we defend really well. And it's the best pitching staff I've had since 2009. Our pitchers throw pretty hard and they throw strikes. They give our defense a chance."
Roseau starts fast
Three regulars from the Roseau High School baseball team that was runner-up in Minnesota Section 8AA opted to not play Legion baseball this summer. In addition, standout Alex Strand missed most of June because of other commitments.
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Yet Roseau is off to a 9-4 start.
The success "isn't a huge surprise," Roseau coach Josh Weckman said. "Our underclassmen have stepped up and played well. When we play up to our potential, we're a good team.
"Granted, we've had some ups and downs. But that's to be expected with a young team."
Strand and Alex Ziegler are a solid one-two pitching combination. Two pitchers who saw limited mound time during the high school season, Nick Ferguson and Danny Krahn, are 3-0 and 2-0, respectively. Isaac Magnuson, another player who saw minimal time in the high school season, has been a big hitter in the middle of the lineup.
"Our pitching has kept us in every game," Weckman said. "And Strand came back and threw well in his first game. Getting him back is big for us. He does so many things -- hitting leadoff, playing a good shortstop, pitching."
Langdon not playoff-eligible
Last week, Langdon discovered it will be ineligible for the North Dakota Section 4 Legion postseason tournament because it missed a state registration deadline.
"We weren't informed that there was a June 1 deadline to register teams," said Jake Kulland, president of the Langdon Baseball Boosters. "It was a change (in the deadline) from last year. Things had to be done earlier.
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"Had we known about the deadline change, we would have been registered. We're just sick about this for the kids."
Langdon coach Nick Schaefer said his team will play out its regular-season schedule. "The kids still want to practice and play," Schaefer said.
The Section 4 tournament will be down to three teams -- Grafton, Nelson County and Park River -- after Midway-Minto also was unable to field a team this summer.
DeVillers reports on sports. Call him at (701) 780-1128; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1128; or send e-mail to gdevillers@gfherald.com .
