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St . Bonitoaddlightsaheadof2024season
BYKIPKOVAR Sports Editor
ST . BONI – There ’ s been a buzz surrounding the St . Boni Saints organization over the past few years . The Saints have been one of the most improved teams in the Crow River Valley League and they are adding to that excitement heading into the 2024 season . Ahead of this upcoming season , there will be lights at Missile Park for the first time in over 40 years .
“ We ’ re very excited ,” St . Boni manager Jared Klahsen said . “ It ’ s been a long time coming . We used to have lights years back but they sold them and never replaced them . It ’ s been a lot of work and effort in fundraising . We finally got that support from the mayor and the city council and that ’ s been huge .”
Klahsen , who took over managerial duties in 2022 , had one goal when he came into the organization . That was to bring back night games to St . Boni .
“ That was my main thing when I came on board ,” Klahsen said . “ I wanted to get lights back on the field . It makes the ease of scheduling so much better and gives us more opportunities to play more baseball at home . To travel all the time for playoff games was a big bummer .”
St . Boni has played all their home games on Saturdays and Sundays with the field not having lights . They even have had to move some league playoff games over the years to other parks due to the scheduling . This year , the Saints will truly get a home playoff atmosphere .
A big reason St . Boni was able to get lights is because of the relationship the organization has developed with Crown College . Needing a place to play and practice , Crown College rents out Missile Park for their season . That relationship over the years has been a big bonus when it comes to raising money and showing the need for
PHOTOCOURTESYOFCITYOFST . BONI
AlongwithaddinglightstoMissileParkaheadofthe2024season , theSt . BoniSaintsalsohaveplansinthefuturetobuilda new grandstand along with other improvements to the park .
park improvements .
“ The biggest thing was probably when Crown College got involved ,” Klahsen said . “ We built a relationship that was pretty strong with the coaching staff at Crown and we ’ re still working on that with their new coaches . There ’ s a lot of things that have come into play to make this possible .”
Becoming a team on the rise has also helped the Saints . St . Boni had one of their best seasons in a long time in 2023 . That excitement has opened the door for the Saints to try and tackle some big projects they have their sights set on .
“ It ’ s been something previously that people were overwhelmed about the cost and effort involved ,” Klahsen said . “ More
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so than anything , I think it ’ s made it easier to start doing more things and getting excited about the team because we ’ re putting out a better product on the team . That really equates to more support and more involvement .”
Another big thing for the Saints over the past few years has been keeping the roster intact . St . Boni is building a following for the team and with that comes the opportunity to take big steps forward not only on the field but off the field as well .
“ Probably half the players on our roster are friends with my son or played for me when they were younger ,” Klahsen said . “ That ’ s a huge thing for us to have support and be able to fundraise more easily . Hopefully , we can start to push our way up into what some of the other programs in the league have with their fields and traditions . They all have the capability of making improvements and spending money on the field and on the team . That just isn ’ t something that ’ s been done in our town consistently for a long time so that ’ s pretty important to me . It just makes things much easier to get things done when you have better fan support and better family support . Being competitive makes that a whole lot easier .”
St . Boni ’ s field already has a unique look to it and that will continue with the lights being added . A short porch to right field followed by one of the deepest center fields in the state are just a few . When fans look down the left field line , they ’ ll see something not many people have ever seen before at a ballpark .
“ We got some unique things going on ,” Klahsen said . “ The left field foul pole is going to actually be a light pole . I don ’ t know if I ’ ve ever been anywhere else that has anything like that . Our park is unique and quirky already so we ’ re just going to roll with that .”
Klahsen and the Saints also have some other projects on their radar for the near future .
“ We do have plans going forward of doing a new grandstand and putting a new backstop in ,” he said . “ We have some other park improvements too like a larger handicap-accessible bathroom and expansion of the concession stand but that stuff will take some time .”
St . Boni will play their first game under the lights Saturday , May 11 against the Winsted Wildcats . The Saints are excited about what 2024 has in store for them as they return their entire roster from last year along with some key additions .
“ That will be the first night game for us ,” Klahsen said . “ Overall , we had a decent season last year . We have a lot of good players coming back . Our entire roster is returning . We probably have a dozen or so college guys on our roster and we have a bunch of guys who were pretty upset the way we ended our season last year . The expectation for our team this year is to go to state . I think we have the talent to do it . I think we really have some pieces in place to have a really good season as long as we handle our business .”