Champions! Mustangs top Cody Cubs to win state Legion Baseball title

By David Peck

Talk about peaking at the right time! The Lovell Mustangs put it all together at the 2025 Wyoming State Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament in Sheridan over the weekend, playing to a 4-1 record with two wins over Cody, including the state championship game.

The Mustangs, 31-22, came from behind to edge Wheatland 10-8 in the first round Thursday, beat Cody 9-6 Friday and gutted out a 2-1 win over two-time defending champion Powell on Saturday. With the team already guaranteed a spot in the state title game, the Mustangs fell to Cody on Sunday, 9-2, then after Cody eliminated Wheatland Monday morning, the Mustangs beat the Cubs again, 5-1, to win the program’s second state title, the first since 1986.

For manager Michael Jameson, now in his 10th year as the Mustangs skipper, the championship is sweet.

“It just means so much, winning one with our hometown and for Lovell, for our community,” Jameson said. “It feels like 10 years of hard work have paid off, and it’s just so rewarding. I’m so happy for these boys, for the community and for everybody. I was excited to see Ray (Peterson) last night at the field (in Cowley). Without everything he’s done before I started coaching, we’d never be in this situation. I’m grateful for guys like that and for the opportunity we had to be in that position.”

State Class A baseball was balanced this season, with a number of strong teams contending for the title, and the Mustangs had an interesting mix of veterans and young players getting their first taste of top-level action. It was all a matter of a team believing in themselves and coming together at the right time to battle a balanced field at State, Jameson said.

“We talked to them from the beginning of the year, and even after last year, about how good they were and trying to get them to believe what we told them, that we truly believe that they could be the best team in the state,” he said. “But, you know, they just had to believe that we had to peak at the right time, and it felt like we were able to do that.

“I think they started to believe that off and on throughout the year at different times. I think that was the biggest thing, just getting them to believe how good they can be, and that they could do it, that they could beat anybody in the state at any time. And we showed that throughout the year. It was just kind of a matter of how we came out and played.”

Jameson said a major key was consistency, getting production up and down the batting order, calling it “the biggest turnaround for our season.”

“Those guys did a great job of making adjustments, over the second half of the year, we felt pretty confident with everybody we had coming up to the plate,” he said.

Another key, Jameson said, was mental toughness, even among the younger players.

“This team did a great job of it this week, especially with so many close baseball games and so many situations that could’ve gone the other way had we not handled them,” he said. “I’m so proud of the mental toughness and the way they handled things not going perfect all the time. That was huge.”

Wheatland

The drive for the title began with a nail-biter Thursday with the Wheatland Lobos that saw the Mustangs fall behind early, 7-0, but rally to win. Young Kannon Owens got the start on the mound for the Mustangs, having pitched well against the Lobos in a game at Douglas on July 6. But in this game the Lobos were able to take some good swings against the young Lovell hurler to score four runs in the first inning, two in the second and one in the third. Alex Hedges relieved and gave up the seventh run, and Rocco Rael allowed a run in the fifth.

But by then, the Mustang bats had come alive. Lovell didn’t have a baserunner through the first three innings as Wheatland starter Mason Collar retired the first 11 batters he faced, but a two-out home run by Tucker Jackson in the top of the fourth seemed to break the ice for the Mustangs. The solo dinger left the Mustangs down 7-1, but after Rael retired the Lobos in order in the bottom of the fourth, the Mustangs exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth to tie the score.

“I think that’s one of those things that, at the time, didn’t seem like a whole lot, but it just kind of changed the whole momentum,” Jameson said of the Jackson home run. “I think they had been pretty much just cruising through that game. That was a heck of a pitcher. And so I think Tucker hitting that home run kind of gave everybody a little confidence that they could go up there and hit the ball.”

During the rally, Wheatland pitchers walked five Lovell batters, but the Mustangs also had timely hitting in the form of RBI singles by Rael, Mac Morgan and Cash Wassmer, while Hedges and Owen Edwards drew bases-loaded walks and a dropped third strike also scored a run.

Wheatland plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to lead 8-7, but the Mustangs tied the score in the sixth when Wassmer tripled to score Morgan. With the score knotted 8-8, a single and two walks loaded the bases for the Mustangs in the top of the seventh against Lobo ace Frank Peralta with two outs. Lafe Files walked to plate Hedges with the go-ahead run, and Morgan walked to score Owens. Lovell led 10-8, and relief pitcher Jackson slammed the door on the Lobos in the bottom of the frame one, two, three.

Lovell bats finished with six hits but also benefitted from 10 walks. Wassmer had two hits, including the triple, and drove in two runs. Morgan also had two RBIs. Owens allowed six runs, five earned, Hedges one and Rael one, and Jackson got the win, allowing no runs on two hits and no walks in 2 1/3 innings of work, striking out five.

The come-from-behind win gave the Mustangs momentum and confidence for the rest of the tournament, Jameson said, noting, “That’s a big stage to be on, and once those guys settled in and got that first game under their belt, they had the confidence. We kept telling them that it’s just baseball and just go out there and play and do what you’ve been doing all season.”

Cody 1

Meeting the Cody Cubs in the second round Friday night, the Mustangs built a 9-2 lead against Cody starter Jace Jarrett and two relievers including four runs in the first and single runs in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Lovell starter Hedges threw three innings and allowed a pair of runs in the second before giving way to Lafe Files, who threw two shutout innings before allowing a three-run double in the sixth, making the score 9-5. Wassmer took the mound in the seventh and allowed one error-assisted run before retiring the Cody bats to preserve the 9-6 win.

Jameson said coaches just had a feeling about bringing in Wassmer – not an often-used pitcher – to close out the game.

“We knew what a competitive kid he is, and it was a situation that we really felt like he could thrive in, that he was not a kid that was going to worry or buckle under the pressure,” Jameson said.

Lovell pounded out 14 hits against Cody pitching including two home runs by Jackson and a double by Edwards. Jackson, Hedges, Edwards and Owens had three hits apiece.

“We had faced him (Jarrett) a little earlier in the season and had hit him fairly well,” Jameson said. “And I think those guys just were kind of ready, kind of locked in to hit the baseball. Obviously, Tucker with the two big home runs kind of set the tone. And stuff like that gives guys a lot of confidence that they can go up there and hit the baseball. And they did a great job of going up there with good approaches.”

Hedges and Files threw three innings each, Hedges allowing two earned runs and Files allowing three unearned runs. Wassmer picked up the save with one inning of relieve, allowing one unearned run.

Powell

At 2-0, the Mustangs met 2-0 Powell, the two-time defending state champs, Saturday night, and the two rivals played a nail-biter. Lovell scored one run off Powell’s starter Booka Fazen in the top of the third inning when Morgan walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Wassmer, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hedges.

Meanwhile, Jackson was throwing darts at the Pioneers, keeping Powell off the scoreboard for five innings before tiring at 111 pitches as Powell did a good job working the count and fouling off pitches even though they weren’t scoring, Jameson noted. Owens relieved and threw a scoreless sixth, but two errors allowed Powell to plate one run in the bottom of the seventh before the Mustangs got out of the inning.

In the eighth, Lovell loaded the bases with no outs on a single and two walks. Powell got the first out on a force play at home, but Wassmer singled home Rael to regain the lead for the Mustangs before Powell got the final two outs.

In the bottom of the frame, Owens retired the first two batters on grounders, but two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases. With the pressure on, Owens got Talon Nuss to ground out to Morgan at second base to secure the win.

Lovell out-hit Powell 8-5, with Hedges and Kyle Wilson recording two hits apiece. Jackson threw 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits and walking five while fanning eight. Owens threw the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits and one walk, striking out one.

The win secured a place for the Mustangs in Monday’s championship game.

Cody 2

With a berth in the championship game secured, the Mustangs played Cody – who had eliminated Torrington the afternoon before, on Sunday afternoon. With little at stake, the Mustangs somewhat coasted in the game and fell 9-2.

Files had two of Lovell’s seven hits, including a double, and Wassmer and Jackson drove in one run each. Dallin Bischoff started on the hill for Lovell and allowed eight runs, five earned, in three innings. Wilson pitched the final three frames and allowed one run.

“I think it was just one of those things where the intensity wasn’t there like it had been the first three days,” Jameson said. “Obviously, we would have liked him to come out and win; we didn’t come in to lose any games. But I think no matter how much we talked about it, it was just hard to be as intense as the previous three days.”

Cody 3

Cody eliminated Wheatland 9-2 Monday, then faced Lovell for the championship. The Cubs scored their only run in the bottom of the first inning off Lovell starter Files, who then buckled down to throw six consecutive shutout innings.

Lovell took the lead with two runs in the top of the third and added three in the fifth as Hedges gave the Mustangs some breathing room with a two-run single.

Pitching the game of his life, Files retired the final eight Cub batters he faced: two in the fifth, three in the sixth and three in the seventh, striking out four and receiving clean defensive plays behind him.

“I can’t say enough about his mental toughness and what he did,” Jameson said of his veteran starter. “He’s kind of had a little bit of an up-and-down year this year on the mound, where he was one of our top two dudes last year. That was probably one of the easiest decisions I had. I know we had Alex and Cash both, but I just felt like Lafe was the guy to go with, and that’s what I told him. I said, ‘This is a situation where nobody’s going to remember how the rest of the year went, but everybody’s going to remember what you do in this game.’ You just can’t say enough about what he did, going out there and throwing a complete game.

“He just located his fastballs. We didn’t throw a whole lot of off-speed pitches. Our biggest thing was just Lafe hitting spots. He did a great job of hitting the spots with this fastball, and that led to some weak pop flies and some weak ground balls just some pretty soft contact. That was just a huge performance from a guy that deserves to go out like that. I was just happy that he could go out with that type of performance. That was an absolute gem for him.”

Lovell out-hit Cody 6-5 as Wassmer had two hits including a double and Morgan, Hedges, Wilson and Rael had one hit apiece.

Files went the distance, allowing one run on five hits and one walk while fanning six. He also hit a batter, but the Mustangs made no errors in a championship performance.

Jameson praised the team defense, especially shortstop Hedges.

“You can’t say enough about the job he did, the range that he has, and then just the arm he has to make the plays. He did a phenomenal job for us all season and then especially this weekend,” Jameson noted.