USA Prime Prodigy Legends 12u - 2026

Shout out to our past 2 "QAB-cellent" players on their Quality At Bats these past few weeks. Our week 5 winner was Keegan Novotny as he had a .750% QAB in his plate appearances while the team improved their overall team % to .642 over out Mother's Day Weekend. Grady Gubbels took home his second QAB award of the season with a .765% from this past weekend for our Week 6 winner. Game tonight for our Sandhills League game and then a well earned weekend off before heading into June with games, games and more games coming up!

2026 Columbus Mariners Mothers Day Weekend Champions! The boys competed their butts off and came away as champs with a 4-0-1 record, and did so for the 3rd straight Mother's Day Weekend! This weekend the team battled, grinded, gritted, never gave in and found a way time after time, pitch after pitch, inning after inning.

Game One: 7-7 Tie vs Titan Bombers Red.
The boys started the weekend off with an thrilling game where it came down to not only the last inning, not only the last out, but also the last strike, in multiple at bats and the boys rallied to earn a tie, and set the tone for the weekend that we were never out of the fight, and who cares what the scoreboard says, we were going to play the game the right way and give it everything we got until time expired. Right off the bat, Bombers jumped out to a quick 3 run lead after their half of the 1st inning, and like we did most weekend, we answered right back, with 2 runs of our own. It was a trend that you'd see all weekend though, that most the time when our opponent scored, we were quick to respond. The top of the 2nd was a back and forth battle, with Bombers getting the best of us. Walk, strike out, hit by pitch, walk had the bases loaded for the Bombers. Gates buckled down and struck out the next batter, setting up a bases loaded, 2 out showdown with the 3 hole hitter. Geared up for a fastball, the hitter smoked an opposite field Grand Slam to go up 7-1 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, things looked like we would get those runs right back, as Abel Keim started things off with a single and Jack Collins followed with a walk, so 2 on and nobody out, but we came away with nothing. Needing to put up a zero, Gates locked in and became almost unhittable the rest of the way. Scoreless top of the 3rd where we worked out of some trouble due with a couple walks, was followed by a 3 up 3 down 3 strikeout top of the 4th. Another strikeout to start the 5th, gave Gates 4 in a row and his 9th on the day and a caught stealing by Kale Sjuts to Drasyn Dubbs at 3rd kept the Bombers at 7, keeping them scoreless for the final 3 innings. Finding a way to scratch, claw, and fight our way back into the game, we scored 1 in the 3rd on a Maddux Beckmann single up the middle scoring courtesy runner Bentley Miller. After going 1,2,3 ourselves in the 4th, we found ourselves down 7-3 and entering the last inning. Kale Sjuts opposite field laser homerun, ignited the spark for us to get back into the game. Grady Gubbels followed the HR with a double and Gates Gebhardt added a single to put runners on the corners with one out and down 3. Now with runners on 2nd and 3rd after a ground out, Keegan Novotny was up at the plate with 2 outs needing to find a way to keep things rolling. He did just that, working a walk while being down to his last strike and loading the bases while putting himself on base as the tying run. Cooper Hood found himself in a 2-2 count then earned his way on base with a RBI walk of his own to cut the lead to 2. Abel Keim stepped up to the plate and drove a 2-1 pitch into right field to bring in 2 and tie the game! We weren't able to scratch across the final run to earn the walk off victory, but were proud of the fight we showed to come away with the tie due to time limit expiring.

Game Two: 10-9 Victory Over Omaha Gladiators Black
After our late inning magic in game one, we found ourselves needing early inning magic in game two. Gladiators took advantage of 3 walks to open the game and brought 2 across the plate. Credit to Pitcher Drasyn Dubbs and our defense for limiting the damage in that situation. After a quick bottom half of the inning, we put up a zero ourselves in the top of the 2nd, setting up a big 2nd inning for the Legends. 7 runs, highlighted by an Abel Keim RBI double scoring Keegan Novotny, Cooper Hood steal of home, Bentley Miller 2 our RBI single and a Grady Gubbels RBI single, we took control of the game. Gladiators answered right back with 4 of their own the next inning to cut our lead to 1, and Cooper Hood entered the game in relief with the tying run on base, but stranded due to an inning ending strikeout. 2 out train got rolling in the bottom of the 3rd, with our boys taking advantage of some free bases of our own. Ashton Bailey hit by pitch, Keegan walk and we were able to bring both of them around to score, giving us a 3 run lead. Cooper worked a quiet top of the 4th, and we tacked on an additional insurance run that ended up being the final tally we needed to maintain the lead and finish with the W. Down 4, Gladiators fought back and made things tense with a double, single, triple and score now 10-8 with a runner on third. Enter "Fireman/Closer" Grady Gubbels to extinguish the Gladiators hopes of a comeback. Grady got the first batter he faced to ground out to 2nd baseman Jack Collins for out one, although it did score the 9th run. G got the next two batters to strikeout, earning the save.

Game Three: 14-1 Victory vs Blair Cubs
Game three on the day, after playing two and sitting one, the bats were hot, scoring 5 in the top of the 1st, 3 in the 2nd and 6 in the 4th. Keegan Novotney threw all 4 innings for the Legends on 66 pitches, allowing 1 run with 3 strikeouts. The two out train was rolling again for our boys, as we scored 4 of our 5 first inning runs all with 2 outs. Maddux Beckmann stole home, Ashton Bailey RBI single, Cooper Hood 2 RBI single. We added 2 more 2 out runs in the 2nd with Gates Gebhardt scoring Drasyn Dubbs and Maddux scoring Gates. Keeping the trend and 2 out train rolling, 4 more 2 out runs in the 4th. Grady Gubbels single, Gates double, Maddux walk, Ashton with the big 2 RBI 2 out triple, and wrapped up with a Novotny single.

Game Four: 6-5 WALK OFF Mother's Day Victory vs Columbus Outlaws
Big shout out to our moms for assisting in pre game warm ups to get us ready for what turned out to be an awesome game with an awesome finish! The excitement started early as the Outlaws jumped out to a fast 2-0 lead in the first, and had the chance for more as the 3 hole hitter hit a double into center field, as he was attempting to stretch it into a triple, the combination of Maddux Beckmann to Ashton Bailey to Drasyn Dubbs relayed the ball in forcing a run down, where Jack Collins got involved and aided in "pickling" the runner down for the out. This was a major play in the game, already in just the 1st inning, as the next batter singled, which would have scored a runner from 2nd or 3rd, and could have been the difference between the win, a tie or potentially a loss. Back to back doubles in our half of the 1st by Kale Sjuts and Grady Gubbels and it was 2-1 after 1. The Outlaws had the 2 out magic in the 3rd, when they took advantage of 2 walks and scored 3 extending their lead to 5-1. Our boys wasted no time in responding, this time with Ashton Bailey getting on via walk, and not staying on for very long as Kale Sjuts blasted his 2nd bomb of the weekend, getting us back within striking distance at 5-3. Single, single, single from Grady Gubbels, Drasyn and Gates Gebhardt and the game was tied! Our "Fireman/Closer" Gubbels entered the game with 2 on and 1 out, gave up a single to the first batter he faced to load the bases. Remaining confident with his "bull" mentality, Grady proceeded to record back to back K's to end the Outlaw threat. Fast forward to the next Outlaw at bat, they had some momentum, earning back to back singles and the go ahead runners on base. Again, channeling his inner "bull" Grady struck out the next 3 batters to keep the game tied and send us into the bottom of the 5th with a chance for some heroics. Drasyn Dubbs led off with a walk, getting the winning run on base. Gates walked and we had 2 on with 1 out. Intentional walk to Keegan Novotny loaded the bases for Cooper Hood, and Koopa Troopa delivered the game ending blow with a single to right field, scoring pinch runner Bentley Miller and the game was ours, remaining undefeated, setting up a true championship game vs the PaceSetters in the 5th and final game of the tournament!

Game Five: 12-7 Victory vs PaceSetters
We entered the game at 3-0-1 while the PaceSetters were 3-1, setting up a true Championship game even in the round robin style of play. A win, and we finish as undefeated champs, a loss and PaceSetters earn 1st place with the head to head victory. PaceSetters came out swinging and punched us in the mouth right away. Single and triple and we were down after 2 batters. Similar to the game vs the Outlaws, where the runner tried to stretch a double into a triple. the PaceSetters batter tried stretching his triple into a homerun and the relay from Keegan Novotny to Jack Collins to Ashton Bailey to catcher Kale Sjuts got him out, which again was big because the next batter singled and he would have scored. We came out and answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning scoring 4 (we scored 4 in all 3 of the innings when we hit). Ashton Bailey and Kale Sjuts singled to start the game, Drasyn Dubbs hard hit to SS scoring them both, Maddux Beckmann singled scoring Drasyn and Gates Gebhardt and we had the lead right back. After 2 quick outs in the 2nd, the PaceSetters ignited and found a way to score 5 in the inning, taking the lead back from us. As previously mentioned, it didn't last long as we scored 4 in the bottom of the second to get right back on top. Bases loaded RBI single from Ashton, RBI single from Kale tied the game and Grady gave us the lead back for good on a hard hit RBI fielders choice. Dubbs tacked on an insurance run with a QAB groundout of his own to make it 8-6. Our final rally where we scored 4, Cooper Hood single, Abel Keim walk after falling behind 1-2 in the count, Jack Collins 2 strike 2 out RBI single, Bentley Miller 2 strike 2 out 2 RBI double, Ashton Bailey 2 strike 2 out RBI single. Maddux Beckmann went the distance on the mound attacking the strike zone, leaning on our salty defense, and competing through adversity. After allowing 6 through 2 innings of play, with the PaceSetters swinging the bats well, Beckmann settled down and held them scoreless for the final two innings. The last play of the game defensivley for our boys was a good representation of the fight, effort, and picking teammates up that we displayed all weekend. Maddux was struck with a comebacker up the middle, Jack Collins, never giving up on the play, snagged a short hop, fired it across to Grady Gubbels at first who picked it out of the dirt for the final out. The game ended in the bottom of the 4th due to time, and our boys were champions!!!!

We are back in action tonight at Plattsmouth for a midweek game and compete in the Lincoln Rebels tournaments this weekend out at Sandhills and hope to see you there or tuning in via GC!

Mid Week Magic!!!! The combination of Grady Gubbels (1 IP) Jack Collins (2 IP) & Gates Gebhardt (1 IP), along with their battery mate, Catcher Kale Sjuts and the salty defense behind them worked a 4 inning No Hitter!

Our “QAB-ulous” hitters for our past two weeks. Kale Sjuts, Grady Gubbels and Drasyn Dubbs put together loads of Quality At Bats in our games while many of their teammates were close behind, making this our highest Team QAB % of the season! Hard hits, sacrifices, tough with two strikes and hunting plus plus pitches have our boys seeing the ball well and taking some great swings!

Thank you to Lincoln Arsenal for scheduling us in a double dip this past Saturday. Originally a weekend off for us, after only 1 game due to weather the previous weekend, we were looking for some games to get some innings, pitches, and swings in. The biggest swing of the day came from Grady Gubbels with his first "over the fence/into the soon to be corn field" at Arsenal's own "Field Of Dreams"! It came in a clutch spot as well. After getting up to a 5 run, 7-2 lead, Arsenal cut the lead to 1 in the bottom of the 5th. Grady, not only stepped up big with the leadoff blast to begin the 6th, but also came in to close the game and put out a fire to end the bottom of the 5th. After cutting the game to 1, with runners on second and third, Grady entered and closed the door on the inning with a K, and the game with 3 K's in the bottom half of the 6th. We will be back for game three with Arsenal on Wed, in Sandhills league play, followed by a Mother's Day weekend tournament in Columbus!

Short recap this week as we were defeated by the rain and wet field conditions and forecast of more rain which held us to 1 game.

10-4 Victory over the Lincoln Rebels. The boys jumped out to a quick 4 run first and never looked back. Leadoff double by Maddux Beckmann followed by a walk to Kale Sjuts, came around to score on a triple from Gates Gebhardt! Drasyn Dubbs RBI double right after and Grady Gubbels entered the game as the courtesy runner for our pitcher Drasyn and scored on a single from Taben Tessendorf. Rebels scored 2 quick ones of their own in the bottom half of the inning. 1,2,3 innings by both squads took us to the top of the 3rd. Leading off the inning, Maddux knocked a single and another 3 bagger, this time by Gubbels brought him in. Gates singled bringing Grady home and the lead was 6-2. 2 out rally produced 1 for the Rebels and cut it to 3 headed to the 4th. Ashton Bailey led off the inning with a single, made his way around the bases and scored on a Cooper Hood single. Abel Keim found his way on base and Jack Collins got plunked to load the bases for Keegan Novotny who singled scoring Hood. Single from Maddux scored Abel and we had a 9-3 lead. No runs for the Rebels and in the 5th Gates led off with a walk and was brought in immediately by another triple, this time from Drasyn Dubbs. Dubby went 5 innings on the bump, throwing all 5 inning on 58 pitches and earned the win.

We attempted to start game two vs USA Prime United, but only made it an inning, and then wet home plate field conditions kept us off the field on Sunday.

We are back Wed. vs Gretna Thunder 11U in Sandhills league at 7:30 and a newly scheduled DH vs Lincoln Arsenal on Saturday at 12 & 2.

Hosting our own Lincoln Prodigy Baseball Academy Beastmode tournament this weekend! Blessed with some of the best baseball families around and appreciate the help we will get from everyone dragging fields, chalking foul lines, chasing down foul balls and all the work it takes to run a successful tourney! Can't wait to see all the Prime and Prodigy teams in action! Our boys play at 5 and 7 tomorrow night vs the Rebels and our Prime United squad at Sawyer Snell North field. Hoping for a beautiful night underneath the lights and some great baseball to be played. If you can't make it out, be sure to watch and cheer us on from your homes via GameChanger!

Some swings are just special, this was one of those swings. Top of the 1st, two men on, and Kale Sjuts BLASTS a homerun OVER the Sandhills Global Youth Complex Field 4 fence!!!! Not the temporary fence they put up to shorten the fields, the permanent fence!!!!! Not done there, his next AB he went ahead and took advantage of the shorter fence and put another BLAST over the fence, and led the way offensively for our boys to earn a 15 to 5 victory over the Cyclones in 4 innings. While Kale may have made the most noise with his swings, his teammates followed close behind, adding in two off the fence doubles from Gates Gebhardt who also was a stud on the mound striking out 5 in 3 innings, 2 doubles from Grady Gubbels in his first game back from a short IL stint, a ground rule double from Jack Collins, a gapper for two bases for Abel Keim, and finally a double down the left field line from Drasyn Dubbs. Was an awesome midweek game in which we plan to carry momentum into our very our Lincoln Prodigy Baseball Academy Beastmode Tournament this weekend where we take on the Lincoln Rebels at 5:00 on Saturday at Sawyer Snell and USA Prime Prodigy United under the lights at 7:00!

Come out and watch QAB (Quality At Bat) leader for Week 3, Cooper Hood, and his teammates take on the Cyclones today at 5:30 at Sandhills! In our midweek game and tournament over the weekend Koopa Troopa had 9 quality at bats out of his 10 plate appearances! Great job Coop! And as a team we increased our overall team QAB % from last week as well! Week 4 starts tonight, who will be QAB-Tastic??? Come watch or tune in via GameChanger

Spring Showdown Recap:

Game One: 9-1 Loss to Nebraska Prime Red in 4 innings. First time all season where we were flat. The team that played that game was not the same team that had played prior to and also not the same team for the remainder of the tournament. Proud of how we responded when challenged to play like our usual confident, energetic, and fun loving selves. There were moments in this game that could have swung the momentum in our favor, but hats off to the Prime Red pitcher for limiting our hitters to a lot of weak contact. Maddux Beckmann had an ESPN Top 10 Play worthy diving catch in center to end the first inning. Kale Sjuts registered his first caught stealing, nabbing the runner with a throw down to Jack Collins at second. Jack Collins returned the favor to Kale when he fielded a ground ball and fired it home to get the out with infield playing in. Keegan Novotny and Abel Keim teamed up to throw better than what the final score sows. Once the game was over, we had no time to waste to get our mojo back, as we faced the Columbus Outlaws with a spot in the Championship Bracket on the line.

Game Two: 11-4 Victory over Columbus Outlaws. Bounced back and played our style of baseball. Led on the mound by Drasyn Dubbs, we started off getting 3 outs in 4 batters then let the offense go to work. Bats woke up from their game one slumber and exploded for 8 runs in the bottom half of the 1st. After loading the bases, we found ourselves with 2 outs in the inning and Columbus looking to escape the jam with no damage done. Maddux Beckmann got plunked to bring home one, but the floodgates were broke wide open with a triple from Cooper Hood. Not at third for long, Coop came home on an Abel Keim single, who made his way around the bases quickly on a Jack Collins double. Hitting for the second time in the inning, leadoff Ashton Bailey finished out the scoring with a single to right scoring Jack and Keegan Novotny. Outlaws settled in, keeping us scoreless for the next two innings and cut the lead to 5, taking advantage of some free bases. In the bottom of the 4th we were able to get a couple back, Drasyn led off with a single and came around to score on a Maddux Beckmann single later in the inning. Gates Gebhardt got on base via fielders choice and scored on a single from Cooper. Cooper also came on in relief of Drasyn and fired 2 innings striking out 3, allowing a run and walking none.

Bracket Play: 10-9 Walk Off Loss to Omaha Tigers Black. We secured the 5 seed in the Championship Bracket and faced off vs the Tigers. Both pitchers and defenses came to play early and it was scoreless through two. Taben Tessendorf was on the bump for Prime and had given up just 1 hit through 2 innings of work. Top of the 3rd is where the game took a turn and the bats went crazy. Single, walk, sacrifice bunt error loaded the bases for our boys with no outs. The scoring got started on a misplayed major league fly ball from Kale Sjuts. A walk to Dubbs brought home another and a QAB tastic AB from Taben scored a third. 1-2 count to Gates Gebhardt and he BLASTS one over the 245 foot left field fence for his first out of the park HR and a 6-0 lead! The Tigers wasted no time eliminating that lead as they scored 6 of their own in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of our own outfield misplayed flyballs. Maddux Beckmann relieved Taben on the mound to finish the 3rd inning and start the 4th where a walk and a double put us down 1. A quick 1,2,3 inning had us back in the field where a few more defensive mistakes now had us down 3. Not to go away without a fight, Abel Keim started off the top of the 6th with a single. Fielders choice and pop out now had us down to our last out with only a runner on first. Beckmann up and down 0-2 and now a strike away from the ballgame being over, watched ball one go by, followed by fouling off 4 straight pitches eventually getting on base with a ball up the middle, giving Kale Sjuts a chance to extend the game. Ball 1, ball 2, strike 1, foul ball strike 2 and again we were 1 strike away. Staying focused, Kale locked on on the 2 strike pitch and once more BLASTED a ball over the 245 foot left field fence to tie the game! Bottom of the 6th started great with a K looking for Maddux, a tough hop on the grass infield put the winning run on base. Single and a walk now had the bases loaded with only 1 out. Ball 1, ball 2, ball 3 and now Maddux was one pitch away from walking in the winning run. Strike one, made the count 3-1 and on the next pitch got the hitter to fly out to right. Unfortunately for you Legends, it was just far enough that Abel Keims throw came in slightly late and up the third base line and the Tigers got to celebrate a walk off win.

Very proud of how we responded after a tough first game. Played some tough teams and should have built some confidence and belief in ourselves moving forward. Wed. we take on MBA Cyclones at Sandhills and this weekend will be competing in our very own Beastmode Tournament.

Bigger recap to come, but wanted to highlight 2 specific swings this weekend! Big time swings from Gates Gebhardt and Kale Sjuts in our Sunday bracket game vs Omaha Tigers Black. Gates blasted a 1-2 pitch over the fence, his first out of the park HR, to cap off a 6 run third inning for our team. Kale stepped to the plate in the top of the 6th, team trailing by 3, also in a 2 strike count and crushed a game tying 3 run blast!