GROTON — A familiar group is looking to make a splash in the centennial season of American Legion baseball.

Groton Post 39 made a statement last season with a 21-14 season, and an appearance at the Class B Legion state tournament in Salem.

But this year, Groton currently sits with a 19-7 record, and looking to pick up a few more wins before the Region 1B tournament on July 22 in Sisseton.

“People always ask me if we’re an old team or a young team, and it’s kind of difficult to answer because I’ve got a lot of older kids on this team but they haven't gotten to play much because we graduated a really good class last year,’” said Groton head coach Seth Erickson. “A lot of these guys are older kids and didn’t really know what we had but they’ve exceeded all expectations.”

It’s been a busy season for Post 39, which is on pace to play 30 regular season games in the regular season, but coach Erickson says the frequency of games now will help them when it comes to postseason play.

“My philosophy has always been to play a lot of games so we don’t have to practice as much,” said Erickson. “Using those games to work on a lot of things, playing some double headers to try and see if we need to develop more pitching or get some guys some extra at-bats. But when we play three or four days in a row, it simulates what the region and state tournament is going to be and you kind of want to see if you can get through a stretch like that.”

Compared to last year, the roster hasn’t changed much. Of the 16 players on Post 39’s roster last year, only four were unable to return this season. 

And while those four players made a big impact, it’s allowed for plenty of younger guys to get experience playing at the Legion level.

“We were kind of top heavy last year where we had 4-5 guys that were really good and then we kind of had other guys in other spots,” Erickson said. “This year I tell people this all the time, I’ve 11 guys on my team that need to play everyday, but I only get to play nine and that makes it tough because I think we have 11 guys that deserve to start every game so it’s nice to have that.”

The most potent part of the Groton Legion team has arguably been the offense. Post 39 averages nearly 10 runs per game with 46 doubles, 17 triples, nine home runs and a .337 team batting average.

With that productive of an offense, it’s allowed the relatively young pitching staff to ease into games much easier.

“We’ve had some good hitters over the years, maybe in bunches like 3-4 guys,” said Erickson. “To have all nine guys that we have right now playing that well and hitting that well, it takes a lot of pressure off our pitching.”

Erickson says the offensive output is in part due to the mentality he preaches to his players going up to bat.

“My kids will either laugh at me or get mad at me, but I hate it when they strike out looking, it just drives me up the wall,” Erickson said. “There’s times when you need to take pitches in certain situations. But if it's anywhere near their wheelhouse, I want them to swing  and swing hard.”

Brevin Fliehs has especially taken that approach to heart this season, batting .449 with seven doubles, 10 triples, and a homer and 40 RBIs. The recent Groton high school graduate has also driven in a team-high 40 RBIs.

“We knew way back when he was a freshman that he was going to be a good ball player,” said Erickson of Fliehs. “He just gets better and better every year and he’s just one of those guys you don’t have to worry too much about cause he knows when he’s not doing something right, so you don’t have to get after him at all.”

On top of Fliehs’ season, Carter Simon has crushed six home runs in 24 games, while seven different batters currently hold a batting average over .300.

The pitching staff has been led by Nick Morris, who’s given up just 11 earned runs in 33.2 innings, striking out 38 batters with a 2.29 ERA. The pitching staff as a whole is allowing just 3.62 earned runs per game.

“There've been a lot of guys that played Junior Legion that have stepped up quite a bit,” said Fliehs. “They’ve become our 6-7 inning pitchers that can go the distance a lot and a few of us have been pitching for awhile and we just keep doing our thing. We’re going to finish this year strong.”

Now heading into the 2025 postseason, Groton’s group with 12 returning players from last year’s state tournament run are ready for another shot to go to Milbank.

“We just got to keep playing our game,” said Fliehs. “Throwing strikes is the main thing, letting the defense make the plays, hitting the ball hard. Hopefully we make another run.”

And coach Erickson believes that last year’s run gave the kids this season that much more confidence they can get back to another state tourney.

“I thought over the last three years we’ve been good enough to get there, we just hadn’t made that step to win a playoff game, to get through that region,” said Erickson. “So to get through that last year it built that confidence and then we came into this season knowing that we can get there, if we play the way we should play, and they’ve been doing it.”