This week’s edition of Lots O’ Stuff contains a mixture of winter and spring sports items.
Here we go.
First win
Jackson County Central graduate Gavin Jacobsen, a freshman left-handed pitcher with the Bethany Lutheran College baseball team, earned his first college win Saturday in his second official appearance with the Vikings.
BLC traveled to Arizona for its spring trip and played eight games at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, with Saturday’s game played at 11,000-seat Kino Veteran's Memorial Stadium.
Jacobsen went four innings for the Vikings in a 15-2 win in seven innings over Concordia, Wis. He allowed two runs (both earned) on four hits, walked three and struck out six.
Carter Benz, a freshman from Wabasso, went the final three innings to get the save, striking out four.
On Tuesday, Gavin went four innings in a 15-8 win over Wheaton, Ill. In four innings he gave up nine hits, five runs (all earned), walked three and fanned six. Bethany led 10-3 when Jacobsen left the game.
Prior to the trip to Arizona, Jacobsen pitched four innings, allowing two hits and striking out four vs. Saint John’s on March 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game, which was the second of a doubleheader, was stopped in the bottom of the sixth inning due to the time limit with the Vikings leading 8-2.
Statistics from that game will not count unless the game is resumed and completed.
Bethany is scheduled to play at ISG Field in Mankato on Saturday, with Beuna Vista due in for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.
Shoen homers
Derek Shoen, a senior first baseman-pitcher at the University of Mary from Truman, hit a two-run home run for the Marauders in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday at Montana State-Billings. He also walked twice in an 11-9 loss.
In the nightcap, Shoen had a hit and also pitched the final inning of a 6-1 win over the Yellowjackets. He allowed two hits and no runs.
For the season, Shoen is hitting .333 (12-36), has scored nine runs, has three doubles, three homers and 13 runs batted in. He has walked seven times and hit by a pitch six times.
The Marauders (6-5) are scheduled to play four games in Missouri this week, with one at Northwest Missouri State and three at William Jewell College.
Aba Turner
JCC grad Aba Turner is a junior catcher-outfielder with the North Dakota State softball team. The Bison are at the Oregon/Oregon State Invitational this weekend.
She scored a run for the Bison in an 11-4 loss to No. 24 Oregon State Friday. Aba also made a pinch-running appearance vs. No. 11 Oregon Saturday.
For the season, she’s scored four runs for the Bison, who are 12-11 with games vs. Portland State and Oregon State today.
After the games on the west coast, North Dakota State heads to the east coast for a single game at Virginia on Tuesday and then five games at the Capital City Classic hosted by Maryland next weekend. The Bison will play the host Terrapins, Binghamton, Army and Monmouth and another game vs. an opponent to be determined.
Alyssa Williamson
Martin County West graduate Alyssa Williamson, a 5-foot-6 guard, recently finished her junior season with the Hamline University women’s basketball team.
The Pipers had a 19-7 record as they recorded the most wins in school history. Hamline advanced to the MIAC tournament semifinals for the first time, losing 75-72 at Augsburg. Williamson had two points and five rebounds in that game.
For the season she averaged 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in a little over 22 minutes per game. She also had 32 assists.
Hanna Geistfeld, a 6-foot senior post from Truman with the Bethany Lutheran College women’s basketball team, ranks in the top 100 in 11 NCAA Division III stat ranking categories.
She is first in points scored (682), field goals made (254), and points per game (26.2).
Also, Geistfeld is second in free throws made (166) and double doubles (19), fourth in rebounds (341), sixth in field-goal percentage (59.3), ninth in defensive rebounds/game (9.0) and rebounds/game (13.1) 37th in offensive rebounds/game (4.1), and 100th in free-throw percentage (78.3).
Spring Training
It’s a little later than usual, but Major League Baseball players reported for spring training today and everything appears to be on track for a full 162-game regular season.
Steve, Jamie and Brayden Williamson had the opportunity to meet up with Derek Falvey, President of Baseball Operations for the Minnesota Twins this morning in Fort Myers.
They asked Falvey how the search for pitching was going and he said that some news would be coming today.
And within a few hours came word that the Twins had acquired a pair of pitchers from Cincinnati, veteran righthander Sonny Gray and Class A righthander Francis Peguero.
Gray went 7-9 with a 4.19 earned run average for the Reds last season. He has an 82-72 career record with the A's, Yankees and Reds.
That news came about 24 hours after news that the Twins had acquired shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Class AA righthander Ronny Henriquez from Texas in exchange for starting catcher Mitch Garver.
Kiner-Falefa was the Rangers' starting shortstop last year but lost his job when Texas signed free agent Corey Seager.
New E-Hawk coach
The Jackson Bulls may have a gap to fill in their roster when the amateur baseball season starts in May.
Briar Rowley, an outfielder-pitcher, has been named the head coach at Emmetsburg High School.
The Bulls will have their earliest opener in team history this season. Jackson is scheduled to open at Heron Lake on Sunday, May 1.
The first game at Wacker Field is May 8 vs. Windom.
State boys hockey
A lot has been written and said about Saturday’s Class AA boys hockey championship game and will continue into the week no doubt.
Andover won its first state title, beating Maple Grove 6-5 in double overtime at Xcel Energy Center.
It was the Huskies’ second double OT win of the tourney, having won 5-4 over Moorhead in the quarterfinals Thursday night.
The Spuds are coached by former Windom Area coach Jon Ammerman.
Ammerman and Andover assistant coach Brett Barta were best friends growing up in Moorhead and were defensive partners playing on Moorhead teams that placed second in the state Class AA tournament in 2004 and 2005. They also played together at St. Cloud State.
While Ammerman was coaching the Eagles, Barta visited his friend in Windom on a couple of occasions and would attend practice.
A couple of other interesting notes:
Andover head coach Mark Manney is a Moorhead native.
Among his jobs before becoming the head coach of the Huskies?
He was the pilot for Air Force One, the plane for the President of the United States. He flew for George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Selection Monday
Today was Selection Sunday for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Well, tomorrow will be Selection Monday.
If you follow me on Twitter (@sportsdr44) you may have voted in our random polls last year. We’re doing it again this year, although the format will change a little.
As you read this, the selection committee is meeting at an undisclosed location along the Jackson-Martin County line to determine the field and seed the entries.
The committee will put its work in an envelope and place it in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls' porch at noon tomorrow. I’ll reveal the contents in a newsletter tomorrow evening.
One of the first items the committee needs to address is who was last year’s champion. Honestly, my records are incomplete, and I don’t know that I want to go through a year’s worth of tweets to find out. Until proven otherwise, I’m saying that Mini-Donuts was the winner.