After 695 Days in the Darkness, Pirates Finally Find the Light

By Chris Rueber  

Photo by Michael Sports Photography  

After a winless season in 2025, the Hudson baseball team took the field for the first time  this season on May 28, carrying a 691-day losing streak. It had been 691 days since the  Pirates’ last victory. 691 days without a lucky break or a serendipitous bounce. 691 days of  darkness.  

A losing streak is a lot like driving through a long tunnel. You can’t see the other side  and, even though you know it’s there, the tunnel can seem never-ending. The darkness  becomes all-consuming, and the only thing that propels you forward is the promise of seeing  that first sliver of light on the other side.  

As the Pirates took the field against the Jesup J-Hawks in the first game of a new  season, Hudson went looking for the light.  

Vs. Jesup  

Sophomore Vincent Bergmeier took the hill for Hudson and was strong early. The J Hawks scored a single run in the first on three Pirate errors and added another run in the  second as Jesup worked two two-out walks and got a double from leadoff man Kade Ries to  drive in a run.  

Hudson cut the lead in half in the third as Bowen Backes laced a single up the middle,  went to second on a balk and raced home on a single from eighth-grader Caden Dlouhy, who  was making his first career varsity start at third base.  

One inning later, Hunter Coulson walked, stole second and scored on a J-Hawk  throwing error to tie the game at 2. That tie was short-lived, though, as Jesup pushed across a  run in the fifth to take back the lead.  

In the sixth, things began to unravel for Hudson. Jesup scored four runs on a single hit,  taking advantage of two walks and two errors. Their lead ballooned to 7-2. Hudson got a run  back in the sixth, and Jesup went down quietly in its half of the seventh, leaving the Pirates  with a 7-3 hole and only three outs to go.  

After a strikeout to begin the inning, Gavin Gunnarson and Bowen Backes walked.  Dlouhy popped out to second for the second out. Eighth-grader Jackson Steele, also making  his first career varsity start in left field, walked to load the bases. Coulson was hit by a pitch,  driving in a run. Junior Austin Schroeder walked, forcing in another run. The lead was cut in  half.  

Senior Brady Berg worked another walk, driving in the third run of the inning, and all of  a sudden it was 7-6 Jesup with sophomore Ty Halupnick at the plate and the bases full of  Pirates. Halupnick worked the count to 2-2, but Jesup’s Parker Masteller froze him with a laser  beam at the knees on the outside corner.  

Ball game over. J-Hawks win 7-6.  

And for Hudson, it was one more night in the darkness.  

Vs. New Hampton  

The very next night, Hudson played another home game against a top-rated Class 3A  opponent. The New Hampton Chickasaws strolled into Pirate Field with a lineup full of hot  bats, and this one was over almost as soon as it began.  

New Hampton scored four runs in the first inning, added two in the third, three in the  fourth and three more in the fifth. The Pirates never really got off the deck. 

A leadoff single by Caden Dlouhy in the first was the only Hudson hit of the game. Chickasaw  pitcher Carter Cajthaml was dominant, going all five innings, walking one and striking out eight  batters.  

Final score after five innings: New Hampton 12, Hudson 0.  

The losing streak would stretch beyond Day 692, and there was absolutely no light in sight at  the end of that tunnel.  

Vs. Oelwein  

Week 2 of the season began with a road trip to Oelwein. The Huskies have had a struggling  program the last couple of seasons, and this seemed like a good chance to get a win and stop  the losing streak at 695 days.  

Hudson capitalized early on some Oelwein mistakes. Caden Dlouhy walked and scored in the  first as junior Blake Delagardelle hit into a fielder’s choice. Hunter Coulson, who was hit by a  pitch, scored the Pirates’ second run. Gavin Gunnarson, the courtesy runner for Delagardelle,  got into a rundown between first and second and distracted the Husky fielders long enough for  Coulson to scamper home.  

After a half inning of play, Hudson led 2-0.  

Delagardelle, making his first start of the year on the mound, was magnificent. He stymied the  Oelwein hitters, giving up only a single unearned run in six innings of work.  

In the meantime, Hudson pushed across another run in the fourth. Junior Jackson Nesteby  came through with an RBI single, running Hudson’s lead up to 3-1 as the Huskies came to bat  in the bottom of the seventh.  

Schroeder took over for Delagardelle in the seventh, and Oelwein pounced on the new pitcher.  A single, a walk and another bloop single cut the lead to one, and the Huskies had runners on  first and third with nobody out, trailing 3-2.  

A sacrifice bunt moved the runner on first over to second, and an Oelwein single on the next  at-bat sent both baserunners on a dead sprint toward the plate. The throw came in, but it was  too late. The Huskies scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to walk off the  Pirates, 4-3.  

The losing streak would live another day as the Pirates said goodnight to Day 695.  And the night had never felt darker.  

Vs. South Hardin  

Day 696 seemed an unlikely day to break the streak. The Pirates’ opponent was a veteran  South Hardin squad, and the Tigers came to play.  

South Hardin jumped on top 2-0 in the first inning, pounding out three hits, including the first of  four for Tiger first baseman Preston Dolash. Dolash would finish the night 4-for-4 with a home  run, two doubles and four RBIs. 

There was traffic on the basepaths all night, but Vincent Bergmeier and reliever Emmet Eige did  their best to limit the damage. As the Pirates came to bat in the bottom of the sixth, they trailed  only 4-1.  

Caden Dlouhy, who had singled and scored on a hit by Schroeder in the fourth, singled again  to start the rally. Jackson Steele pushed him to second on a groundout, and that’s where it all  began to unwind for South Hardin.  

The Tigers brought in a new pitcher, hoping to limit the pitch count of Josh Spindler. The next  batter, Hunter Coulson, was hit by a pitch. Yes, again.  

Then Austin Schroeder walked to load the bases, and Delagardelle followed with another walk  to force in a run for the Pirates.  

South Hardin changed pitchers again, but the results were not much different. Brady Berg  walked to force in another run, and suddenly the Pirates found themselves down 4-3 with one  out and the bases loaded.  

Senior Trey Wulf tied the game with an RBI groundout, and Gavin Gunnarson strolled to the  plate with two men in scoring position.  

Gunnarson hit a shallow popup just behind second base. The Tiger center fielder rushed in to  make the play, but the ball bounced off the heel of his glove and fell safely into the grass.  Running on contact for Hudson were Delagardelle and Berg, and they both scored easily.  

Five runs on one hit, taking advantage of one Tiger error.  

The Pirates led 6-4 as South Hardin came to bat in the seventh.  

Eige took the mound for his fourth inning of relief and struck out the first batter he faced. A  groundout to second put the Tigers down to their last out.  

Dolash singled and went to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Hudson throwing error,  cutting the lead to one. A single put the go-ahead run on first for South Hardin, but Eige  coaxed a popup toward second base.  

Shortstop Brady Berg drifted over, camped under it and squeezed that ball like his life  depended on it.  

After 695 days, the Hudson Pirates had won a baseball game.  

Final score: Hudson 6, South Hardin 5.  

The players mobbed each other, and people even came running onto the field from the stands  to celebrate. It was a joyous moment bathed in the wondrous light of victory.  

After 695 days stranded in the darkness, no group of ballplayers has ever enjoyed it more.  With one game left in the week, a single question remained.  

Could they do it again?  

Vs. Sumner-Fredericksburg 

The drama of the night before did not repeat itself in Sumner.  

In its place was a kind of Hudson baseball game no one had seen in quite a while.  

Jackson Nesteby walked, stole second and scored on Schroeder’s two-out single to put the  Pirates on top 1-0 in the first.  

Despite giving up three runs in the home half, Hudson went right back on the offensive. The  Pirates got three walks and a wild pitch before eighth-grader Jackson Steele sent a moonshot  over the fence in left field for a three-run homer.  

Blake Delagardelle drove in two more with a seeing-eye single over first base. Brady Berg  singled, stole second and scored on a single by Steele, and the Pirates took an 8-3 lead over  the Cougars.  

Nesteby went the whole way on the mound for Hudson, and the game was called because of  rain with the Pirates leading 8-4.  

Ball game over.  

Pirates win.  

After the first two weeks of the 2026 baseball season, we replace the number 695 with the  number 2.  

Two days. Two games. Two wins.  

A new streak has begun, and the darkened tunnel is officially behind them.  

It’s nothing but sunshine now, and the Pirates will try to keep it that way when they take the  field for Week 3.