First Weekend of Northern Sun Play in the Books

As a part of my reduced time investment to this blog my entries are going to be less frequent and rely more on school press releases.  It still gives NSIC baseball fans a place to share information and jabs. 

The first weekend of play is complete and 6 Northern Sun teams saw their first action over the past few days -

Minnesota Duluth and Southwest Minnesota State battled each other at the Metrodome with the Mustangs coming away with a 2 games to 1 advantage.  Duluth got robbed of a 9-1 win in the 4th scheduled game when they ran out of time with 3 outs to go in the 7th inning.  Bulldogs-Mustangs Recap

St. Cloud State swept 3 games from Wisconsin – Parkside at the Metrodome.  Heralded freshman, Jordan Smith, lived up to the early hype and had 3 multi-hit games going 7-11 for the series.  He’s the early favorite for Player of the Week.  St. Cloud State Sweeps

Bemidji State swept a non-conference doubleheader from fellow NSIC team, Minnesota Crookston by scores of 7-0 and 8-4.  Beavers sweep Golden Eagles  The perfect season was short lived as they dropped a pair of games the next day against Rockhurst University Rockhurst Wins 6-2 & 5-4

Concordia University split it’s season opening doubleheader against Northwestern (IA).  Both games were decided by 1 run as the Golden Bears won game 1, 7-6 but dropped the nightcap 5-4.  Concordia Splits 

Finally, Augustana kicked off their season at the Metrodome with a split against the same Rockhurst team that had swept Bemidji State.  Both games were blowouts with the Vikings winning game 1, 13-2 but being blown out in game 2, 14-5.  Vikings Split To Open Season

Schrader Getting Rocked To Kick Off Northern Sun Play

Just a couple weeks ago the Northern Sun Conference Coaches Poll and NSIC Conference named Southwest Minnesota State pitcher, Adam Schrader, their NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.  Preseason NSIC Predictions  You’ll see that yours truly questioned the selection of Schrader.

Fast forward to the opening game of the 2010 D2 College Baseball season for teams in the Northern Sun Conference where SMSU is playing Minnesota Duluth at the Metrodome this afternoon.  Here’s Schrader’s line through 2 innings:

He got bailed out in the first from a bases loaded no-out jam by a pop up and double play but 3 ER’s, 6 hits, 2 BB’s, 1 HBP & 1 WP to go along with 62 pitches isn’t exactly the line he was hoping for.

Yes – I realize it’s only 2 innings into the season.  Still an interesting start to the year.

You can follow along yourself here – SMSU Live Stats Site

Edit – It’s only fair to come back and say that Schrader finished with 2 really strong innings in the 3rd & 4th by facing 7 batters and giving up only 1 walk.  He left the game after 4 complete and in the end only surrendered the 3 ER’s

NCAA D2 College Baseball 2010 Season Kicks Off

The NCAA Division 2 College Baseball season officially kicks off today.  Unfortunately, there is no uniform website that tracks all of the schedules so short of looking at every team’s schedule it’s hard to say who is actually playing today.

What we can look at is the Northern Sun Schedule and see the following teams are kicking off play this week with the first games scheduled to take place this Thursday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis -

Thursday February 4th:

Minnesota Duluth vs. Southwest Minnesota State (DH) – 3pm

Concordia vs. Northwestern, IA (DH) – 8pm

Friday February 5th:

Minnesota Duluth vs. Southwest Minnesota State (DH) – 9am

Minnesota Crookston vs. Bemidji State (DH) – 7pm

Saturday February 6th:

St. Cloud State vs. Wisconsin Parkside (DH) – 9am

Sunday February 7th:

St. Cloud State vs. Wisconsin Parkside (DH) – 7:30am

Augustana vs. Rockhurst – 5pm  (no super bowl watching for them)

The most interesting of these games is certainly the UMD vs. SWMS matchup.  Last year SWMS spanked Duluth 34-1 in a non-conference game.  The Mustangs lost quite a few players from their 3rd place team of last year.  That said, I’m not sure Duluth has the pitching to win more than 1 game (although Anders Engberg is very good).

Wayne State – 2010 Preview

Today I conclude my 2010 season previews with a preview of Wayne State.  I look back at their results in 2009, key roster transitions and make a prediction about where I expect the 2010 team will finish.

Wayne State – 2009 Results

The Wildcats concluded 2009 the same way they’ve been concluding seasons for some time now – with the Northern Sun Conference regular season title and a trip to the NCAA Regional Tournament.  In fact, this was the 6th straight conference title and NCAA appearance.  Along the way, the team set records for most wins by a NSIC team in league play going 27-4 and tying a team record for most wins in a season with an overall record of 45-14.  After winning the regular season crown the team finished 2nd in the NSIC Postseason Tournament (NSIC Tourney Results) and then went on to finish 2nd in the NCAA Regional to just miss out on a chance to advance to the D2 College World Series Mesa State Upends Wayne St.. 

Northern Sun Preseason Coaches Poll Released

Yesterday, the Northern Sun Conference released their preseason coaches poll and a surprise team sits atop the projected standings Northern Sun Press Release –

St. Paul, MN. – The defending NSIC Tournament Champions of Minnesota State University, Mankato were the top pick in the 2010 NSIC Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll. This marks the first time since 2003 that Wayne State has not been selected by the NSIC Baseball Coaches as the preseason favorite. Minnesota State amassed 151 points after receiving seven first place votes (coaches can’t vote for their own team) to edge Wayne State’s 148 points and five first place votes.
SMSU, the last NSIC team besides Wayne State to earn the coaches nod, had 120 points while Winona State had 118 and St. Cloud State had 114 points and a first place vote.

In addition to the poll, coaches named their Preseason Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year –

NSIC Preseason Players of the Year
#20 Joe Wendte
OF, 5-11, Sr.,
South Sioux City, Neb.
Heelan HS
Wayne State College

Wendte was named to the 2009 Rawlings/ABCA All-American 1st Team as well as being named the 2009 NSIC Player of the Year. He hit .396 last season with 14 homers and a team-high 67 RBI’s to help the Wildcats win a sixth straight Northern Sun Conference regular season title. He set a new school record with 83 runs scored, which ranked fifth in NCAA Division II, and had a team-high 51 walks to rank eighth in NCAA Division II. Wendte was a three-time NSIC Player of the Week last season and he led the Wildcats in hits (78), doubles (20), stolen bases (19), slugging percentage (.741) and on-base percentage (.527). Wendte also received First Team Daktronics Inc. All-Central Region honors last season.

NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year
#23 Adam Schrader
RHP, 6-3, 205, Sr., R/R Easton, Minn.
United South Central HS
Southwest Minnesota State University

Schrader finished 5-1 last season with a 3.88 earned run average in 11 appearances, including 10 starts. He was named the team’s most valuable pitcher and a second team all-region honoree in 2009 as he led the Mustangs in innings pitched (60.1), complete games (3) and strikeouts (67). He begins the 2010 season ranking fourth in school history in strikeouts (182), seventh in games started (36) and ninth in innings pitched (188.2). Against Winona State last season, Schrader recorded a school record 15 strikeouts as he broke the previous record of 14 set by Dean Champine in 1973.

While there should be no question about naming Wendte, the naming of Schrader is a little more surprising.  Schrader didn’t get named to either the Conference’s 1st or 2nd team All-Conference teams last spring and there are plenty of players who were that are returning and had better stats. 

Sometimes You Get a Curveball

Sometimes in life things don’t go quite as you thought they might.  When you zig, life zags and when you think you got the next pitch figured out, you get a curveball.  Such it is with this writer who started this blog as a way to track his son play D2 baseball in the Northern Sun Conference for the 2009-10 season.  But, things don’t always go as planned, especially with teenagers who are trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives.

So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, my son won’t be playing NSIC baseball this year which leaves this blog in a bit of a quandary.  If he’s not at a NSIC school my interest in covering Northern Sun Baseball will be significantly decreased.  On top of that, my Realtor business is getting crazy busy which was already impacting how much time I was going to be able to put into the blog.  Here are the choices I can think of –

1. Shut down for the time being with extremely limited content
2. Post occasional content but leave it more free form for NSIC fans to communicate with each other via the comments
3. Find some other contributors who want to step up and be writers for the blog

So, if 1 or more of you want to take a shot at being writers let me know and I’ll grant you access to the blog & train you on creating posts (or you could just e-mail me content which I would post). 

On a personal note, I feel bad that I won’t be spending as much time here.   To have had more than 56,000 visits to my blog in less than a year has been very humbling.  I’m going to miss meeting a lot of you in the stands.

So, instead of the NSIC stands I’ll be in some other bleachers.  I’ve spent 17 years teaching my son the game I love and following his every contest.  That won’t stop – ever.

Minnesota State – 2010 Preview

Today I continue with my series looking at the top teams in the Northern Sun Conference by previewing Minnesota State.  I look back at their results in 2009, key roster transitions and make a prediction about where I expect the 2010 team will finish.

Minnesota State – 2009 Results

The Mavericks were picked to finish 2nd in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2009 and that’s exactly where they finished.  They ended up 1 1/2 games behind the eventual champion, Wayne State.  The team then advanced to the Northern Sun Postseason Tournament where they lost their first game before reeling off 5 straight wins to claim the automatic bid to the NCAA Central Regional (Minnesota State Wins NSIC Tourney).  The flamed out in 2 straight NCAA Tourney games but it was still a very productive year and they finished with a 38-17 record in coach Matt Magers first year as the manager.

The team ranked in the top half of most statistical categories within D2 baseball and among Northern Sun teams.  They were 4th in the league in batting, 3rd in ERA and 3rd in fielding.  One glaring weakness was their stolen bases where they ranked 2nd to last in the league.

Southwest Minnesota State – 2010 Preview

Today I continue with my series looking at the top teams in the Northern Sun Conference by previewing Southwest Minnesota State.  I chose them because they were the first school to post their roster and schedule for the year so it’s in deference to the fine job they’re doing at publishing information about the team.  I look back at their results in 2009, key roster transitions and what 2010 might hold for the team.

Southwest Minnesota State 2009 Results

Once again, I pull out the 2009 coaches poll to show how wrong they were about the success that the Mustangs would have in 2009.  Northern Sun coaches predicted a 7th place finish for the team –

Instead, the team finished with a 16-10 record in the NSIC (28-15 overall) and a solid 4th place finish in the the regular season to propel them into the Northern Sun Conference Postseason Tournament. 

What To Ask Coaches?

In January & February I hope to interview a number of Northern Sun Conference coaches to ask them about the upcoming 2010 college baseball season along with topics regarding the state of NCAA Division 2 baseball.

The comments section at this blog have never been more active.  I’ve already started a list of questions that I want to ask but I’m giving readers a chance to chime in as well.  So, with that in mind, what questions do you have that you think would be interesting and informative to ask the coaches?

Concordia Baseball – 2010 Preview

Today I continue with my series looking at the top teams in the Northern Sun Conference by previewing Concordia.  I look back at their results in 2009, key roster transitions and what 2010 might hold for the team.

Concordia 2009

The Golden Bears entered the 2009 season on a high.  The 2008 season had seen them finish 3rd in the Northern Sun Conference.  They then went on to win the NSIC Tournament and qualify for the NCAA Regional for the first time in school history.  Going into the season they returned a high number of their key contributors from that 2008 team including 2009 NSIC Pre-season Pitcher of the Year, Jake Schmidt and 2009 Pre-season Player of the Year, Brenden Furrow.  The feelings about them were so strong that coaches picked them to finish 3rd in the Conference where they were closer to the top place than the 4th place.

The team started out well enough with a 15-3 non-conference record (against a relatively weak schedule) but things started to go south in their first NSIC weekend when they lost 3 of 4 to upstart Augustana.   So what went so terribly wrong for the team that left them with an 8th place Conference finish?

NCBWA 2010 Division II Preseason All-American Baseball Teams Announced

The National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released their NCAA Division II Preseason All-American Baseball Teams on Tuesday this week.  They named a First Team, Second Team, Third Team and Honorable Mention Team for the upcoming 2010 baseball season.  In all, 12 players from the Northern Sun Conference were named to the teams.  Those players were:

First Team:

• Third Baseman – Matt Bauer, Sr, Southwest Minnesota State

Second Team:

• Second Baseman – Seth Fox, Sr, Upper Iowa
• Outfielder – Nate Baumann, Jr, Augustana
• Starting Pitcher – Logan Birr, So, St. Cloud State

Third Team:

• First Baseman – Andrew Kinney, Sr, Southwest Minnesota State
• Utility Player – Brenden Furrow, Sr, Concordia St. Paul
• Starting Pitcher – David Deminsky, Sr, St. Cloud State
• Relief Pitcher – Bret Severtson, Sr, Augustana

Honorable Mention:

• Outfielder – Tom Longoni, Sr, Upper Iowa
• Utility Player – Lucas Wilsing, Sr, Upper Iowa
• Pitchers – Patrick Lenton, Sr, Minnesota State  &  Adam Scrader, Sr, Southwest Minnesota State

As is typical, when a team is announced one of the first things to do is look and see if the Writers got it right.  Right away the Northern Sun Baseball Blog readers started commenting about the immediate injustice of leaving Wayne State’s Joe Wendte off of the team.  Wendte was recognized as the Northern Sun Conference Player of the Year in 2009 and was on the NCBWA Third Team All-American Team for 2009 (higher than any other Northern Sun player).  In reading the fine print for the award I did notice that players needed to be nominated by their school’s Sports Information Director.  Earlier today I verified that Wayne State’s SID mistakenly missed the deadline and therefore, Wendte’s name was never submitted.  Kind of a shame for a player that would most certainly have been 1st or 2nd team as he had a better year than Nate Baumann did who made the Second Team squad.

The one player that jumps out at me as maybe not belonging on this list would be Lucas Wilsing of Upper Iowa who was nominated as a Utility Player.  Wilsing didn’t make the NSIC 1st or 2nd team All-Conference Teams in 2009 and there are a number of players that jump out at me that would have been better choices (although I’m not sure they were nominated).  Anders Engberg (Minnesota Duluth) had stats as both a pitcher and batter that exceeded Wilsing and he was 2nd team All-Conference.  Tony Mueller of Winona State is another player that might have been a better batter/pitcher option as he was a much better hitter than Wilsing, although not as good on the mound.  It’s fun to debate anyway.

On another note, I did confirm that Eric Bond, Wayne State’s 2009 Newcomer of the Year and a key offensive contributor, will not be back with the team in 2010.

NCBWA 2010 Preseason Division II All-American Announcement

Three Mustangs Named Preseason All-American

Birr & Deminsky Named Preseason All-Americans

Baumann & Severtson Garner All-American Honors

Lenton Named All-American Honorable Mention

Furrow Selected Third Team All-American

Augustana Baseball – 2010 Preview

As promised, I begin this week with a preview of the top contenders in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for the 2010 baseball title and, more importantly for some, a Top 6 finish which gets teams into the NSIC post-season tournament.  My goal with these is to look back at the 2009 season for each of the teams I preview, give a recap of the key players who are no longer with each team and highlight any statistical factors that are interesting.  I’m starting with 2009’s surprise team of the Conference – Augustana.

Augustana 2009

The Vikings came into the 2009 season with a brand new coach (Tim Huber), a new conference (moving into the Northern Sun) and low expectations.   The team was coming off of 2 losing seasons (2008 record: 13-30, 2007 record: 14-24) which led to the pre-season NSIC coach’s predicting an 11th place finish for the Vikings –