BERESFORD — Amateur baseball is back in Beresford.

An 8-5 loss to the Tabor Bluebirds in the 2017 state amateur baseball tournament was the last time the Beresford Blues fielded a team. After a seven-year hiatus, the Blues have made their return but under a new manager.

It all started with former Sioux Falls Brewers player Brandon Ruud. Ruud was looking for a team in the Class B field late last summer, but with the Class B release player rules, he was out of luck for joining another existing team.

“Initially I tried to find a B team to join and play on but pick-up spots are very hard because I live in Sioux Falls, so pick-up spots are very slim pickings nowadays,” said Ruud. “And then I came up with the idea of maybe just trying to see if I could get lucky and form a team.”

Ruud reached out to Matt Storo, a former Lennox Alpaca player who teaches in Beresford, in early October 2024 to see if they could form a team in Beresford.

“I reached out to him about the idea,” said Ruud on Storo. “When I was doing research I kind of knew that Beresford had a team in the past and I figured it might be a good opportunity to try and bring an amateur team back.”

A Beresford Blues player slides in to home during Baltic's 20-12 win over the Blues on May 18 in Beresford. (Courtesy photo)

Throughout the winter, Ruud began reaching out and recruiting players in the area to see what their roster would look like. By February they reached double digits and felt like they could take a chance on submitting the team to the amateur baseball association.

And with word spreading through the Beresford community, the roster continued to grow, rounding out with 18 players.

“We only had maybe 10-11 guys in February say they want to play and we were just going to take the chance,” said Ruud. “And slowly word spread down there and we just added more people. I think we had our league meeting on the 29th and we added three more people after that before the June 1 deadline.” 

Ruud said it was important that the team uses the “Blues” moniker as a way to pay tribute to the prior team that played in Beresford in the mid 2010s.

“We felt that it was only right to pay homage to that team before and we kept the name Blues,” Ruud said. “We didn’t want to have this be our own thing, we kind of wanted it to be like we’re bringing this back to the community of Beresford so it didn’t even get to a second naming option.”

The 2025 Beresford Blues have just two pick-up players, including Ruud and former Renner Monarch Ryan Flores. The team also features a number of players with former amateur baseball experience. Matt Sisk and Storo are both former Lennox Alpacas, Zach Gass and Hunter Cotton played for Elk Point, and Mike Chartier is a former Hartford/Humboldt Gamecock.

The Blues also feature two current and former college football players, with Logan Serck finishing up his redshirt junior season at Dakota Wesleyan and Zach Boden playing one year for the Dakota State Trojans.

And through the first nine games of the season, Ruud says it's been an adjustment period for the guys that haven’t played in awhile.

“We scheduled four non-league games before our league games and the purpose of that was basically to give these guys an opportunity to knock the dust off,” Ruud said. “A lot of these guys haven’t played in years so it gives them the opportunity to see some live pitching and get a feel for the field again, but also give us an opportunity to get used to working with one another too cause that takes awhile as well.”

The Blues have picked up two wins over the Renner Rangers and a win over Parker, but on Thursday, June 12, in Beresford’s 12-5 win over the Renner Rangers, the team started finding its rhythm.

Action during Canova's 11-4 win over Beresford on May 12 in Beresford.(Courtesy photo)

“Last night was actually the first time where it felt like we are almost fully in sync and have a feel for it,” Ruud said. “We obviously don’t practice or anything so we don’t have that opportunity to take advantage of that time to get to know each other so we have to use the games to do that.”

While the amateur season is a long one and we are a long way from district tournaments, the first-year team won’t be an easy out for any State Line foes.

“I expect us to compete,” said Ruud of the postseason. “I can’t say that I’m 100% sure that we’ll end up getting one of the four spots out of our district, but I am positive that we will fight our way and not make it easy for any of the opponents if we don’t get that spot. We do compete regardless, we’re not a layup by any means, I can say that.”

For Ruud, it’s a return to Class B amateur baseball and its tradition. He played for the state champion Canova Gang in 2023, and has fond memories going to Cadwell Park with grandpa to watch the state tourney. 

“My grandpa was a Canova guy through and through, he and I would go to games,” said Ruud. “In middle school and high school we would always go to Mitchell and I would just enjoy that atmosphere and I loved the opportunity when it came for me to play with them finally, even if it was just one year. I ended up going back to the Brewers last year and I essentially decided that I was probably better suited for “B”.”