For those of you who might have missed it, Rod Petersen’s Farm Tavern team of Madison, Wisconsin won its second consecutive ASA Men’s Major title over the weekend, with a 6-0 win over the Broken Bow Spirit of New York. Petersen waited 37 years to get his first ever title last year, but had a much shorter wait for the second. Thirty-five year old pitcher Dean Holoien of Surrey, British Columbia earned Most Valuable Pitcher honors, pitching a no-hitter in the championship game. It marked the first time in the ASA Major tournament that foreign born players were allowed (2 per team).
Playing key roles in the Farm’s National Championship victory were a couple of California natives, “the two Todds”, Todd Budke and Todd Garcia.
Budke was a member of last year’s championship team, while Garcia joined the squad this year after Team Lyons folded. (Lyons had finished third in last year’s tournament, the highest finish by a California team in recent memory). Garcia anchored the NAFA AAA World Series champion Team Lyon squad last year in Wisconsin, earning MVP honors for his contributions, which included a dramatic 12th inning home run against RWP, MN, which is depicted in the photo link above. Todd Garcia later travelled to Christchurch as the starting catcher for Team USA in the ISF World Championships. (Budke is a former Team USA player himself) Neither Budke nor Garcia are strangers to championship caliber play, and will be back on the field when the ISC World Tournament gets underway next week.
The Farm opened the season as the number 3 team in the ISC rankings, and finished up at number 2. Along with #1 County Materials and #3 Broken Bow, the Farm will be among the favorites to add an ISC World title to their resume in this year’s tournament at Fargo-Moorehead, North Dakota.
With most of the major tournaments taking place east of the Rockies, we don’t get a chance to see “the two Todds” play in person too much during the season, but California’s favorite sons continue to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Garcia doubled in the championship game, while Budke homered. Both earned First team All American honors (see below) We wish them well in Fargo. (Click title of this article above for more details on the game).
We hope to get a chance to see them in person in the upcoming ISC World Tournament next week.
Championship Final
The Farm Tavern 200 202 0 – 6 11 0
Broken Bow Spirit 000 000 0 – 0 0 3
Dean Holoien and Todd Garcia. Doug Middleton, Frank Cox (5) and Gerald Muizelaar (7th) and John Wodtke. W-Holoien. L-Middleton. 2B: The Farm Tavern – Todd Garcia 3B: The Farm Tavern: Boomer Brush. HR: The Farm Tavern: Todd Budke.
First Team All-Americans 1B – Tim Hatten, Blackhawk Athletic Club. 2B – Bill McDonald, Heflin Builders. 3B – Todd Budke, The Farm Tavern. SS – David Boys, The Farm Tavern. Outfield – Tony Gabriel, Heflin Builders; Rob Gray, The Farm Tavern; Chad Maxon, Blackhawk Athletic Club and Steve Schott, Broken Bow Spirit.Utility – Chris Delarwelle, Circle Tap; Chris Delorit, The Bull/Townline; Steve Price, Heflin Builders. Catcher – Todd Garcia, The Farm Tavern. Pitchers – Dean Holoien, The Farm Tavern; Gerald Muizelaar, Broken Bow Spirit and Rob O’Brien, Circle Tap.