Two area graduates have been named first-team selections on the all-Upper Midwest Athletic Conference baseball team.
Jackson County Central graduate Gavin Jacobsen is a pitcher and Heron Lake-Okabena grad Eli Fest is an outfielder for Bethany Lutheran College, which won the UMAC regular-season and postseason tournament titles. Both are sophomores.
In conference play, Jacobsen had a 1-1 record for the Vikings with a 4.50 earned run average. In 38 innings he allowed 24 runs (19 earned) on 32 hits, walked 17, hit five and struck out 69.
He led the conference in strikeouts and opponents had a .221 batting average vs. Jacobsen, which was sixth. His innings pitched total was eighth.
Overall, Jacobsen has a 1-2 record with a 4.11 ERA. In 46 innings he allowed 30 runs (21 earned) on 38 hits, walked 21, hit five and struck out 80.
Jacobsen has struck out 15.65 batters per nine innings, which is first in the country among NCAA Division III pitchers.
Fest led the UMAC in on-base percentage with a .602 mark. He was fifth in batting average (31-66, 470), fifth in walks (19) and eighth in runs scored (17). Fest also had five doubles, one triple, 13 runs batted in and was hit by a pitch three times.
NCAA regional
Bethany, 25-9 on the season, will play in an NCAA Division III regional in LaCrosse.
The Vikings are seeded fourth and will play host and top-seeded Wisconsin-LaCrosse in the first round at 11 a.m. Friday. The other first-round game Friday has second-seeded Buena Vista playing third-seeded Bethel.
The four-team double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday.
The regional champion advances to a two-team, best-of-three tournament super regional on May 26-27.