Submitted photo: Eli Elsbecker (second from right in back), a Fort Dodge Senior High graduate, poses with his Bernard Indian teammates after the squad won a tournament in Cascade in July and Elsbecker earned MVP honors.

Eli Elsbecker spent his summer vacation at the ballpark, which isn’t out of the ordinary at all for the 2022 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate.

The unique part of this particular experience was the setting itself. Elsbecker joined the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Baseball League, a semi-pro adult competition featuring 17 different teams from communities in and around the Dubuque area.

“The concept is town ball,” said Elsbecker, now a senior at Coe College. “I got into the league when some former teammates of mine recommended it to me.”

Elsbecker bounced around depending on what each squad needed for a given game, but he spent most of his time with the Bernard Indians. The town has a population of 114 and is located 20 minutes southwest of Dubuque.

Elsbecker saw action in 15 total games, with most coming in a span of five tournaments. The league’s season started in May and ended in early September.

There were 13 tourneys and 278 games played in all during the 2025 campaign.

Elsbecker was on four tournament championship squads. Winning teams shared money at the end of each weekend bracket.

Elsbecker would typically make the nearly three-hour drive from Fort Dodge to Dubuque County for the league, which has been going on for decades in that area. He was the MVP of the 79th annual Cascade American Legion Post 528 semi-pro tournament on July 25.

“I feel like I played pretty well overall,” Elsbecker said. “Every game I was in, I’m pretty sure I had two or more hits.”

This wasn’t just about statistics and box scores to Elsbecker, though. He felt like he was a part of something bigger by participating in the tradition-rich league.

“Baseball is a lifestyle to the people (in the participating communities),” Elsbecker said. “It’s technically a men’s league so there are older guys playing, but their kids are watching and the love of the sport is continually being passed down.

“The community aspect was also cool. Whenever a specific team had their home tournament, the entire town would make it out to watch the game.”

The EIHL included divisional teams from Worthington, Key West, Rickardsville, Farley, Dyersville, Cascade and Dubuque. The Prairie League — the other half of the league — featured Bernard, Peosta, Epworth, Balltown, Bellevue, Kieler, East Dubuque, Zwingle and Pleasant Grove.