One of the best baseball games ever

Last Saturday, May 30, 2026, I had the pleasure of enjoying some of the best baseball I have seen in a very, very long time. 

 

In my life, I have witnessed or participated in some roughly 2,000 baseball games. Hundreds, maybe a thousand Twins games. Oh so many games played from little league and t-ball through town team baseball. I umpired baseball for five or six years; coached middle school baseball for two years, and wrote about and photographed many high school games for the newspaper. 

 

My favorite games, prior to Saturday were: 

 

1. My first playoff game, as a senior. We won 5-4 over St. Peter. Seeded 14, we upset the fifth seed. I had a RBI double in the first inning where we scored all five runs. Dempsey Tucker pitched all seven innings and I caught the final out, with the bases loaded, in the last inning as rain sprinkled down. A top-five life feeling that was. I played my entire senior season with a pit in my stomach, knowing this was my final time to play high school ball. I recall, as a youth, driving by the baseball field after a sad, season ending loss for the Panther baseball team. I asked my dad why the players were still there, sitting in the dugout. I recall one player sitting there with his head in his hands. It must have been an hour after the game ended.

“It’s the final time those players will ever wear that uniform or play on that field,” my dad told me. “They aren’t ready to go home yet.” 

 

That pit in my stomach gave me something that I never had before. Or rather, it took away something, the nerves. I was more worried about never getting to play again than I was worried about failing. I was not a more clutch player during any other season than I was my senior season. 

 

2. The David Freeze World Series Game 6. Freeze hit a game-tying triple for the Cardinals, who were down to their last strike against the Texas Rangers. Later in the night, far past my bedtime as I sat on the edge of my bed watching the game, Freeze hit a walk-off homerun, to which Joe Buck, son of legendary announcer Jack Buck, said, “We’ll see you tomorrow night.” An homage to his father Jack who had the same call when the Twins’ Kirby Puckett hit a walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. 

 

After Saturday, I can now, definitively add a third game to round out my top three. 

The Panthers, seeded number one in these 2026 Section Playoffs, lost to Adams 6-5 in the winners bracket last Tuesday. They toughed it out, though, and didn’t give up. Winning  two more games, they set up a rematch with Adams, where the winner would go on to play in the section finals Tuesday. I am writing this Tuesday morning, so I do not yet know how the finals went. 

 

The Panthers went up 2-0 and coach Fischer was a little conservative. He left a run on the board, I felt. But also, he got an extra run by doing so, earlier in the inning by not being aggressive. (The head coach manages baserunners at third base. It’s his job to tell the runners to head home on a close play or stay at the base.) Later, in the fifth, the Panthers added three more runs on clutch, timely hitting. It is great fun to watch those Gillilands play ball. 

 

Fischer did what I can only describe as perfect baserunning coaching as he had a runner turn the base and at the last second sent him as the outfielder bobbled the ball. Most coaches would have easily held the runner, but Fischer waited until the last possible moment and was able to send that runner home. It was so fun to watch. 

 

I talked to coach Fischer during the week about how important it was to keep his pitchers under 75 pitches, the count necessary to allow them to be eligible to pitch Tuesday. (Baseball has special rules about days of rest for pitchers.) He was aware already, but I couldn’t help bringing it up: I stressed that the wins Saturday wouldn’t matter if he didn’t have anyone to pitch Tuesday. 

 

What I didn’t say and didn’t have to because coach Fischer was fully aware, was that those games Saturday were important and that, if we don’t win them, we won’t get a chance Tuesday. 

 

With the five-run lead, it was easy to pull starter Owen Wayne at 74 pitches. When Adams loaded the bases and made it a 5-4 game with no one out in the seventh, it was not obvious to bring Wayne back in. I have never seen a coach re-enter a starting pitcher after taking him out of the game. Most coaches don’t even know they can do that. I do, because my dad pointed out a win or go home playoff game he wrote about in the 90s as a sports editor where a coach did something similar. A starting pitcher was getting rocked in the first inning so Coach pulled him. And then brought him back in to close the game. 

 

That is exactly what Fischer did. The whole thing makes me so happy and emotional I could cry. It was beautiful. 

 

As Fischer walked to the mound and made the pitching change, I walked from the stands back to the dugout. (I move around due to my back problems. It helps me not hurt so much.)

I told Dan Stork, who was just outside the dugout, that this was the right call. (Not that I needed to.) 

 

As I watched Owen pitch I said out loud, and to myself, “Owen’s got this.” 

 

I don’t know if it was superstitious, no it definitely was, but I said that after each out, before the next batter came up. 

 

I was standing next to Owen’s mom, who was taking pictures this entire time. I don’t know if she could hear me, but I was trying to do my best to manifest whatever energy I could into the world to push the Panthers to victory. I could not and did not and would not let myself entertain the idea that Owen or the Panthers would lose. 

 

Out after stressful out I watched it happen. As Owen made the final throw to the plate, I yelled–and so did everyone else. I didn’t get many photos of celebratory moments because I was too busy being happy. Shortly after that I could hear Owen’s mom crying tears of pure joy. 

 

After Saturday no one can tell me baseball isn’t the greatest sport in the world. 

 

It may not be the most popular sport but it is “America’s Greatest Pastime” for a reason. 

 

After the game I talked to coach Fischer who told me, a little emphatically, how important it is to save his pitchers. “But it doesn’t matter if we don’t win this game.” 

 

The magic carpet ride, as coach Jeff Reese said after the win, ended for the Panthers Tuesday evening, 3-2, to JWP. My only comments on the game are that I am glad the game ended closely. The boys will come back better next year, feeling, correctly, that they are good enough to play in the state tournament.