John's Journal: Baseball Means Family For Red Lake County

Family connections are everything at Red Lake County High School, which is located in the proud town of Oklee (population 411). Oklee is about half an hour’s drive to the southwest from Thief River Falls. If the University of Wikipedia is to be believed, the village is named after the original owner of the town’s land, a fellow named O.K. Lie.

Uh OK, but that sounds more like the punchline to a galloping tale of small-town humor: “And then the guy said, ‘OK! Lie!”

The truth is that the 2024-25 school year has been glorious for the Red Lake County Rebels. The football team had a 9-2 season that ended in the Section 8 championship game at the Fargodome. The boys basketball team went 31-3 and finished third in the state tournament. In boys hockey, the cooperative team with athletes from Red Lake County and Red Lake Falls went 21-5.

On the baseball field, the ultimate goal was achieved Saturday when the Rebels defeated New Ulm Cathedral 15-7 in a hitting-crazy Class A state championship game at Target Field. The family theme was strong during the baseball season.

Head coach Mike Gullingsrud, in his first year leading the program, is boys basketball coach Steve Philion’s son-in-law. Mike’s son Ben, a ninth-grader who pitches, hits and does everything else on the field, plays basketball and was a key part of the Rebels’ first baseball state title. Ben, batting third and playing center field, went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs Saturday.

The team includes a mix of hockey and basketball players, continuing a run of small-town success that doesn’t always happen easily or often.

“We’ve got a bunch of really good athletes, good people, good families,” Philion said. “It's really fun. It’s just a bunch of good kids having good seasons.”

Then Steve repeated: “And it's a lot of fun.”

The Gullingsruds and Philions have been coming to the Twin Cities every weekend recently. Ben played in an AAU basketball tournament a month ago, Mike’s son Alex played in a sled hockey tournament at the National Sports Center in Blaine a week later, and last weekend a group of boys basketball players took part in a summer tournament here.

Alex is an inspirational 12-year-old. He lost a leg to cancer a few years ago and has inspired countless numbers of people, as have his family members: Mike and mom Nicki and siblings Ben, Gracie and Corin. Alex has become a star in sled hockey, being named USA Hockey's Disabled Athlete of the Year in 2023.

Alex was in the stands Saturday, of course, cheering on the Rebels as they made history. After taking pregame swings in a batting cage behind the visitors dugout, the boys came out swinging, clearly unfazed by playing in a big league ballpark. They scored five runs on two hits and two errors in the first inning and led 11-1 after three and a half innings. The New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds returned fire with a five-run third and the high-scoring affair was on.

There were many stars on both sides, but it’s hard to find an athlete who had a better day than Red Lake County’s Kegan Schmitz. He tied a state tournament record with six runs-batted-in, joining a group that also includes David Kinnert and John Kalmi of New York Mills in 2004 and Billy Cook of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in 2006.

Kegan went 3-for-4, driving in single runs in the first, third and seventh innings and belting a three-run double in the second. The Rebels, whose 2024 season ended in the Section 8 finals, pounded out 14 hits Saturday.

“We got here, got comfortable, and then we tried to hit the ball,” Schmitz said. “We didn’t want to try to do too much, just be simple with it.”

The No. 1 through No. 4 batters for the Rebels combined for nine hits, 10 runs-batted-in and 11 runs. That foursome was Will Gieseke, Gunnar Halverson, Gullingsrud and Schmitz.

“You can get down pretty deep in the order and guys put barrels on balls,” Mike Gullingsrud said. “Our team batting average coming into the state tournament was .335.”

Gullingsrud coached at Ada-Borup for 16 years, followed by three years at Thief River Falls. He’s busy in the winter officiating college and high school basketball. He worked as an umpire for the last few years and coached a Rebels 16-under baseball team a year ago.

“I coached a lot of these guys last summer,” he said. “You don’t get to this stage without having cards to play with, and they’re very deep. We have three seniors and nine juniors and a sophomore and a freshman who get a lot of playing time, but of those guys it’s a core that has kind of bubbled together. In multiple sports, with this crew coming through, we knew we better make the most of it.”

The top of the first inning for Red Lake County was a testament to taking advantage of opportunities and swinging big lumber … even if high school lumber is made of metal. Gieseke – who was the winning pitcher, throwing 115 pitches in 6 2/3 innings – led off with a double, followed by an error, a two-run single by Ben Gullingsrud, a sacrifice fly by Schmitz, a walk and a hit-by-pitch and another error, resulting in five runs.

They added four more runs in the second behind two walks, Schmitz’s bases-clearing double, another walk and a double play while the fourth run crossed the plate.

“That's the best that we've started a game all year,” said Ben Gillingsrud, “if not in our lives.”

That’s no lie.

Class 2A: Pine Island won its first state baseball title with a 2-1 win over Glencoe-Silver Lake. Among the proud Pine Island fans in attendance was former Panthers baseball coach Craig Anderson. He coached at Pine Island for 41 years before retiring in 2016. His career record was 526-381, putting him eighth on the all-time wins list for Minnesota high school baseball coaches.

His impact on the 2025 team is clear; among the countless number of players Anderson mentored were current head coach Dan Drazen and assistants Mike and Peter Jasperson.

Class 3A: Mahtomedi captured its third title in its fifth championship game appearance, defeating Mankato East 6-2. The Zephyrs won titles in 2018 and 2021 before finishing second in 2023 and 2024.

Each team had seven hits, with Mahtomedi scoring three runs in the first inning and single runs in the first, fourth and sixth. Winning pitcher Winston Wisely struck out nine and walked two, throwing 109 pitches in seven innings.

The Mankato East Cougars played in their first championship game.

Class 4A: Cretin-Derham Hall rallied to defeat Minnetonka 3-2 as the Raiders won their 12th ^h state title and first since 2007. Minnetonka led 2-1 after four innings before the Raiders scored twice in the fifth and held on from there.

--Follow John Millea on Bluesky at @minnesotamillea.bsky.social. Contact John at [email protected]