Jul 26, 2025
ABOVE: Fairmont Martins’ Nate Soelter slides into second base during an amateur baseball game earlier this season.
FAIRMONT – With the Minnesota Baseball Association wrapping up its regular season of amateur baseball, the Fairmont Martins find themselves in the upper echelon of the Class B standings as they gear up for another playoff run.
The Martins finished their season at 10-2, posting an 8-1 record in the First Nite league standings, trailing the Windom Pirates and the Jackson Bulls, respectively.
After competing well in Class C in recent years and winning the state title in 2020, the Martins made the jump this season to Class B for the first time in team history.
The MBA announced the return of the three-class system – Class A, Class B, Class C – in the fall of 2024.
Qualifications for different classes are based on a point system that holds multiple variables. From past season success to the amount of college talent on one’s roster, each team is placed in the appropriate league on a year-by-year basis.
“It goes back five years,” said Fairmont Martins head coach Levi Becker. “In 2020, we won the Class C tournament. That is what’s keeping us with those points, but then they come off after this year.”
This season, the Martins remain in a league with a majority of Class C teams.
Because of this, Fairmont opted to play a “half-league schedule,” facing everyone in the First Nite league once while branching out to play other Class B teams in the area, such as the New Ulm Brewers and the Luverne Redbirds.
The Martins’ roster, much like many amateur baseball teams, is compiled of multiple age groups, ranging from 16 to 42.
Becker said that due to many people leaving the roster last summer, a multitude of young high school talent has been forced to rise to the occasion. The current lineup consists of seven players currently in the Fairmont High School baseball program.
“The Martins have a pretty good history of playing young guys,” Becker said. “I know my first taste of the Martins was when I was in eighth grade. It has always been a mix of younger and veteran guys, but we just try to find guys that love playing baseball.”
The age variation causes a unique dynamic between the different players. With Becker and some of the older players helping out with the game-by-game managing, it presents an opportunity for many younger players to learn and develop.
While summer baseball is a little more relaxed than the school season, Becker says there are still many different ways these players can grow from the so-called veterans.
Much of the Martins’ 2025 season success stems from a mix of stout pitching and an explosive offense.
The unit is led by a trio of talented arms in Spencer Chirpich, Jack Hested and Josh Smith. All three pitchers have combined for 74 innings of work and allowed just 15 earned runs.
On the other side of the ball, the Martins’ offense is a group of many key players that has averaged just over seven runs per contest.
While the offensive attack is led by former Fairmont High School baseball players Nate Soelter and Luke Becker, many players play a cog in this machine.
“One word to describe it would be aggressive,” Becker said when talking about his team’s offense. “We’re not afraid to give a guy the green light with a 3-0 count. That’s been always kind of our motto is to be aggressive. If you go down swinging, you go down swinging.”
The Martins now wait for the announcement of the District 8B amateur baseball brackets to be revealed. With the schedule being announced this weekend, Becker knows that this year’s playoffs will be even more challenging due to the increased competition.
“There are no slouches, that’s for sure,” Becker said. “It’s going to be quite a bit tougher tournament than playing in our old region.”
The first round of the tournament will be played in New Ulm, starting Friday, August 1.
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