The Junction City Brigade are the Mid Plains League champions!

The Brigade defeated the Midwest Athletics 8-1 Saturday at Rathert Field to clinch the Cowdin Cup Playoffs championship series 2-0 and claim the Cowdin Cup Trophy that goes to the league champion.

The Brigade broke open a scoreless tie with five runs in the fifth inning, with the big blow a home run off the bat of outfielder Pete Ruiz of Junction City. Three runs scored on the play. Ruiz, who has played at both pitcher and outfielder for the Brigade,  stated he didn’t think he would ever hit a home run again. “Finally get to be an outfielder here in front of a crowd like this, and hit in a big game like this, oh I can’t even describe it. It was amazing.”

Ruiz believes it was his final baseball game. He has played for the Brigade for four seasons, and also for the Junction City Blue Jays, Barton County Community College, and Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa. On his final game he stated, “Yes sir this was. It’s bittersweet.” Ruiz added, “Yes this was probably the final chapter of my baseball career.”

Head Coach Seth Wheeler said the Brigade players had a blast all season. “Right there at the end they were all standing up. They were getting ready to run on the field and then they dog piled.” The Brigade players ran onto the field celebrating the championship with many of them winding up in a big dog pile.

On the championship Brigade General Manager Cecil Aska was ecstatic. “We had probably 300-plus people here today, and for them to be able to see the team win this….I think that’s why the team played even harder today, because they were before their hometown.”  The Brigade have now won the league championship two of the first three years that the conference has existed. Junction City also won the championship in 2014.