The Prior Lake Mudcats amateur baseball team will face Bird Island in the Minnesota State Amateur Class “B” Baseball Tourney after winning big over New Prague 10-5 and Union Hill 4-3 this past weekend. In doing so, they earned the third seed in District 3B.

The ‘Cats open up play against a tough Bird Island Bullfrog nine that has state tourney experience. The game will be played at Hutchinson Veterans Memorial Field at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Longtime Mudcat manager Greg Faue says on the PLABA website that “it will be a fun challenge, as we have been overlooked down the stretch.”

The team has an overall record of 15-17, but had fun winning five of their last six games to make it to state. The Mudcats team is made up of many recent and former Lakers. The winner of the Mudcat – Bullfrog matchup will advance to the next round and face the Hutchinson Huskies.

There are four tournament sites for the MBA State Tournaments covering three classes, Class “A” (mostly larger cities) Class “B” (teams with rich traditions or larger communities) and Class “C” (mostly small communities). Teams must qualify through district tournament play.

The host sites this year are Brownton, Hutchinson, Gaylord and Glencoe, which are approximately 35 to 50 minutes west of Prior Lake. All tournaments are single elimination, with 24 teams in “A” and “B” and 32 teams in the “C” division.

Baseball fans who enjoy a small-town atmosphere focusing on nice fields and good baseball should check out the schedule at Minnesotabaseballassociation.org.