Belugas amateur baseball season ends in regions - Hometown team will be on sidelines as Brandon hosts state

The Brandon Valley Baseball Association will be hosting the 2025 state tournament starting this week at First National Bank Field, but the team from Brandon won’t be a part of it.

The Class A Brandon Belugas were defeated in back-to-back games in the double-elimination regional tournament over the weekend, ending their season at 5-14 overall.

It was the first season for the team under the rebranded name Beluga Whales, or Belugas. The team previously played as the Valley Rats from 2014-2024. They’ve never won a state title, but reached the semifinals in 2020, their deepest run in team history.

Second-year manager Jaxon Haase was behind the rebranding from Rats to Belugas. After managing the Rats for one season in 2024 and playing their home games in Valley Springs, Haase said during the off-season that the club needed a reboot, both in the name and their home field, which was First National Bank Field this season.

But sporadic roster counts were a problem all season for Brandon, who lost seven of their final eight games.

“I don’t like losing. Never have, never will,” Haase said. “It’s hard when you have 29 guys on the roster and less than half of them can come to most of the games. But I certainly had a lot of fun with these guys this year.”

Of their five wins, four came at home at First National Bank Field. Haase said he was happy with that and the crowds that ensued. He said part of the reason he wanted to play home games in Brandon was because of potential crowd sizes.

“More people showed up than I thought,” he said. “I wouldn’t say crowds doubled, but they got bigger. I was really hoping more guys (players) would come out to the home games, especially. We had a lot of high school guys come out and shout from the outfield fence, so that’s a good side of it.”

After opening the season 3-2, things started to spiral. The Belugas lost 12 of their final 14 games. Their last win was on July 20, a 14-10 win over the Sioux Falls Brewers at Augustana, Brandon’s lone road victory of the season.

They ended the regular season on July 22 with a 12-2 loss at Renner. The Monarchs were Brandon’s opponent on Thursday to open the regions, and Renner again tagged the Belugas in a 10-2 win.

Daniel Buteyn started on the mound for Brandon, but went just 1.1 innings after giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning. But it was less that bomb and more of a concern for his arm that resulted in him being replaced. Haase said he felt soreness and couldn’t continue.

Buteyn pitches for Dordt University, and he’ll return to Sioux Center, Iowa for his third season later this month.

On Saturday, the Belugas played Tea with the loser being eliminated from region play. Brandon scored twice in the top of the first, but it was all Tea after that, as the Steam went on to win 12-2.

Carter LaBrie started on the mound for Brandon, but the righty struggled with a tight strike zone. He put the Tea starting lineup down in order in the first, but the Steam eventually got him. He went 1.1 innings, giving up seven earned runs on three hits with three walks. Tea led 8-2 after two at-bats.

“The strike zone was so tight,” Haase said. “If you’re not putting it down the middle, it’s not going to work out for you. That’s the issue. You’re going to have to eventually throw a fast ball down the middle for it to be called a strike if the guys aren’t swinging. You just gotta hope that they don’t put it in play.”

Despite the underwhelming result of the 2025 season, Haase said he will be back next summer.