Written by Ezra Oldenkamp
The Algona baseball team had an amazing season last year. They had 27 wins and only 8 losses, creating a .771 win percentage. They also won the North Central Conference with a Conference record of 14-1.
The Bulldogs had a ton of big wins including (3-2) Algona beating (5-2) Newman Catholic 2-1 on Thursday, May 23rd, 2024. The five and two Algona Bulldogs had a big win over (4-2) Humboldt with a 15-5 victory on Wednesday, May 29th, 2024. Algona, who was (7-4) at the time, went on the road to face (4-2) St Edmond and won 16-1 in a very dominant win on Monday, June 3rd, 2024. The (9-4) Algona Bulldogs then had to face (10-3) Estherville and kept Estherville scoreless in a 13-0 win on Thursday, June 6th, 2024. Then (13-4) Algona faced off against (6-5) Clear Lake where Algona won 4-1 on Monday, June 10th, 2024. The (16-4) Algona Bulldogs had to go into (10-9) Mason City on Friday, June 14th, 2024, and beat them 7-4. Algona, then (17-4), faced (12-4) Humboldt in their rematch at Humboldt’s home field, but the Bulldogs still won in a close 4-3 victory on Monday, June 17th, 2024. The (23-4) Algona Bulldogs then hosted (13-8) Pocahontas and won 9-2 on Tuesday, June 25th, 2024. The (25-6) Algona Bulldogs faced a tough opponent in (27-10) Bishop Heelan on the road where the Bulldogs beat them 4-2 on Friday, July 5th, 2024. After Monday, July 8th, 2024, the Bulldogs punched their ticket to the playoffs.
In the playoffs on Friday, July 12th, (26-7) Algona had to face (17-14) Webster City in the first round of playoffs. The Bulldogs were on the road right away but still won in a convincing manner in a 10-5 performance to advance to the second round of playoffs. On Monday, July 15th, 2024, (27-7) Algona was on the road once again and had to face off against (20-15) Boone. They beat Algona early on in the season 2-1, but the tables turned for Boone when the Bulldogs beat them 2-1, advancing to the Substate Two Championship. On Wednesday, July 17th, 2024, (27-8) Algona faced off against (26-6) North Polk at their home field where the Bulldogs fought hard but lost 3-4. Tate Garman said, “The difference between extraordinary and ordinary is the little extra you give.”
The Bulldogs had a lot of success, and with that success comes a lot of awards. Algona only had one person get on the third team All Conference, Dawson Elsbecker as an outfielder. Two Bulldogs were named to the second team All Conference: Daniel Kemna as an infielder and Garman as a pitcher. Three were named to the first team All Conference: Tate Slagle as a catcher, Aiden Ulrich as a pitcher, and Logan Lentz as an infielder. The Bulldogs had seven seniors graduate: Reid Louwagie, Kemna, Lentz, Brody Gornau, Drake Gronau, Dylan Wickman, and Hoyt Crouch. Lentz is currently at Northwestern College getting ready for his first college baseball season.
In the offseason, Aiden Ulrich and Slagle committed to their college of choice to pursue their baseball career. Ulrich committed to Central College while Slagle committed to the University of Iowa. Congratulations to the Bulldogs on their great season.