katohtr Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Since it appears that no one has talked about the Sioux baseball team since 2004, I decided that I would start up a thread for it, hopefully getting the ball rolling. It appears that the Sioux are off to a very marginal start at 4-8. Once again the baseball team had trouble in Emporia, KS, getting beat by the Hornets 3 times for the 4th consecutive year (was nice to see them mix in a win against a pretty good Wayne State (Neb) program). Also was sad to see that the usual 5 game weekend with Washburn University was cancelled this year due to financial reasons beyond the program's control. The team then travelled to the annual Gene Cusic Classic trip in Ft. Myers, FLA. They ended that trip going 4-5 with a sweep of a very weak Wayne State (Mich), single game win over Calumet College(?), and also a split against a Regional rival in South West State University. A bright spot came on the last day of the trip when the Sioux beat the Rookie squad for the Minnesota Twins. While the contests have been fairly competitive since the first match-up of these two teams, I do believe this is the first time that UND has come out on top. Congrats! Some individual statistics up to this point in the season: Chris Gulsvig and Scott Schmidt are leading the offense for UND thus far with averages of .378 and .375 respectively. JUCO transfer Tim Burns is next with .302. Still waiting for the Seniors in the middle of the lineup to get going.... The pitching staff has been a little shaky thus far with the exception of Sophmore Aaron Dehn. Dehn is 2-1 with an ERA of exatcly 3.00....as a staff the Sioux are sitting at just a hair under 5.00 for an ERA which isn't ALL that bad considering the aluminum bat factor, but the Sioux have issued 31 free passes in 86 innings. UND travels to Brookings next Monday to play former NCC opponent SDSU in a couple of nine inning affairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxMD Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 This has nothing to due with the 2006 baseball season but thought I would share nonetheless. A couple of years ago I was playing softball in a local church league. One of the other players daughters was dating a Sioux baseball player. He was often present as a spectator but eventually "earned" himself a starting position on our team. He was not considered a ringer as he did attend our church regularly that summer. He imposed a rule upon himself that he would ONLY swing on the first pitch regardless of its quality. He would at times need to golf swing / overhand / or step out of the batting box to make contact. And he always made contact...if the pitch was even half decent it was over the fence. On those rare occasions that he didn't clear the fence he usually was to third before the ball made it back to the infield. He played "outfield"...not right...not left...not center...the whole outfield. He could throw to home with ease from anywhere on the field. In fact...the catcher often looked terrified as the ball would often come in hot. Needless to say...we did not lose when he was in the line-up. Ever. It was humbling to see the difference in athleticism...but he was a joy to watch in action. I don't recall his name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 I just noticed that the emoticon that was included with my thread has a obviously sick look on his face. I wanted to note that it was unintentional, and it has nothing to do with what I think about UND's 2006 season!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCM Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I just noticed that the emoticon that was included with my thread has a obviously sick look on his face. I wanted to note that it was unintentional, and it has nothing to do with what I think about UND's 2006 season!!! Fixed it. I'll send you a bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 Fixed it. I'll send you a bill. Thanks for starting the thread. Squirtcoach's son (of the POI/SS controversy) is a baseball player and interested in playing for the Sioux, among other teams. So any info regarding the team is welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted March 27, 2006 Author Share Posted March 27, 2006 Thanks for starting the thread. Squirtcoach's son (of the POI/SS controversy) is a baseball player and interested in playing for the Sioux, among other teams. So any info regarding the team is welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 This was the controversy. We laugh at standard whiney Gopher fans around here. http://siouxsports.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5329&st=60 He's a better baseball player than a hockey player and wants to play college ball. I hope Coach Zieglar shows more interest, otherwise he'll end up a Bison..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 This was the controversy. We laugh at standard whiney Gopher fans around here. http://siouxsports.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5329&st=60 He's a better baseball player than a hockey player and wants to play college ball. I hope Coach Zieglar shows more interest, otherwise he'll end up a Bison..... I follow...sorta. About your boy....I think it would be unfortunate if your son ended up a Bison....for a couple of reasons. First off, it's NDSU, so being from the GF area, and playing sports for the Sioux, I automatically have to advise against it. Secondly, I don't think that McLeod has a coaching brain cell in his head (however if your son is a pitcher he could really take advantage of having Redhawk pitching coach Steve Montgomery on staff). And lastly, have you checked out what the NDSU baseball team is having to do to play any games lately? They have to drive around the country all spring, never having a home game. Nobody in the DI baseball pool (even the smaller DI schools) want to come up to North Dakota to kick the hell out of a program that has NO business at the DI level....at least for now they don't. Now don't get me wrong here, playing schools of that caliber is good for developing young talent. But don't you think at some point it would get old to get your head kicked in game after game? I knew a couple of the guys that played on NDSU's baseball team last season. They really had no business on a DI program, but they were sort of "grandfathered" in because of the schools' transformation to the DI level. They explained to me how playing like that (getting killed, never having a home game) sucks, and were pretty sure that they weren't gonna be back next season. They complained that it became a "joke", how nobody cared anymore, guys weren't taking practice or team rules seriously...ect. College athletics of any sort is about the SPORT, the competition, hanging with teammates...ect. The minute the whole thing becomes a joke and the morale of the team falls apart, you've got nothing more than a brutal team that you were on in high school. Now maybe your son is good enough to compete at this level, but the point I'm trying to make is that NDSU's program is gonna be a punching bag for a few years. Your son would be much better off getting the "real" college baseball experience at a school that HAS an established conference and CAN compete with most of the teams on their schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 I appreciate your candor regarding baseball in North Dakota. It gives me (and will give him) a better insight to what kind of program he is looking for. He has also talked to the coaching staff at SDSU as well and met some of the players, but he doesn't know anyone who is going there. He is a 'team' oriented kid who has played on state champion or state tournament teams every year since they won the state Little League tournament when he was 12. So he is used to playing on teams that play to win. And doing what it takes off-season and on-season to get it done. SU may not be what he is looking for. As far as the controversy, The POI group whined about the SS team bringing two high school hockey players to the game last year, and tried to make it an issue. These guys were involved in half the points scored for the SS while playing defense, and the POI guys were afraid I'd bring them again. The two boys are good athletes and hockey players. Better baseball players than hockey players, too. As an alumnus of UND, I'd much rather see my son in a Sioux uni than a Bison uni. But he'll probably play where he is most wanted. Thanks for the info. Squirtcoach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 Time for another Sioux baseball update...... UND baseball travelled to sunny Brookings, SD to play former NCC opponent SDSU on Wednesday (29th)afternoon. Struggles on both ends of the game led to a sweep of the Sioux dropping their record to 5-10. Not much to say about game one. Jacks pitcher Caleb Thielbar went the distance facing only 4 batters over the minimum. The lone Sioux highlight came in the top of the 7th when senior Jason Fairchild singled in UND's only run. Final score: SDSU 12 UND 1 Game two was actually much closer than the score indicates. Senior Darrin Heston held the Jacks in check for most of the contest trailing 2-0 entering the sixth. Fairchild led off the inning with a walk and was moved over on a groundout by 1B Chris Gulsvig. JUCO transfer Tim Burns then blasted a one-out, game tying homer, bringing the Sioux back to life. The high was short lived though, as the Jacks tacked on 4 in the bottom half on the inning, taking the wind out of the proverbial sail. Final score: SDSU 6 UND 2 Catching up on stats..... (SO) Scott Schmidt is still leading the squad with a .362 BA.....(SO) Chris Gulsvig, (JR) Tim Burns, and (SR) Troy Wasiloski are not far behind at .356, .333, and .327 respectively. The pitching staff is still trying to get in their "groove." Sioux hurlers are at a collective 5.11 ERA with (SR) reliever Lucas Sandman (1-0 2.45 ERA 7.1 IP) and (SO) Aaron Dehn (2-2 4.32 ERA 25.0 IP) leading the way. The Sioux travel tommorrow to Fayette, IA to play Upper Iowa University in a Sat/Sun 4-game set, their last contests before Tuesday's scheduled home opener. (4/4 UMC 1/3pm Kraft Field) Oh, almost forgot....if anyone's interested, the new media guide is available to view online at http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/baseball/mediaguide.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESUS,family,rutgers Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Hello katohtr, I was wondering if you know why the Sioux baseball jerseys are not for sale on siouxshop.com? The pure white with Sioux across them look great. GO FIGHTING SIOUX! GO SCARLET KNIGHTS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted April 4, 2006 Author Share Posted April 4, 2006 Hello katohtr, I was wondering if you know why the Sioux baseball jerseys are not for sale on siouxshop.com? The pure white with Sioux across them look great. I agree....but those were actually my second favorite. I felt the pure black jersey with green "Sioux" across the front looked real sharp. Anyway, to answer your question, my guess is that because baseball is a "non-revenue" sport at UND. There is no charge for admission (therefore they don't earn), and a large chunk of the team's budget is acquired by team fundraisers or furnished by baseball alumni. I think that there would have to be a larger public demand for the baseball uniforms (like football or hockey) in order for the University to have them manufactured for retail. Suggestions to getting your hands on a jersey (can't guarantee white), would be to ask around. Every so often they get new uniforms and make the old ones available for sale. However, because of the budget, this sort of thing doesn't really happen all that often. So...about the white jerseys that you asked about, those are 5 seasons old (or something like that), and there's no real way of knowing when it is that they'll be replaced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESUS,family,rutgers Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 You would think schools would make items like this available even if they didn't order a lot of them. There are always enough people interested to make it at least a break even situation plus the school gets some "walking" publicity for the teams. Thanks for the info. Does the Sioux baseball team ever play any night games or is it just too cold in the Spring in North Dakota? What size crowds turn out for the games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 A sports store called Scheels used to carry the replica baseball jerseys. They were quite nice. I'm not sure if they still do and their website has no products for you to look at and buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakotadan Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 I bought a UND baseball jersey at Scheels a couple years ago. The first time I wore it I got into a fight and it got covered in blood. (No, not mine) Thank god for OxyClean!! It is a nice jersey but I don't know if Scheels still carries them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 We picked one up a Gerrels on South Washington a few years back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katohtr Posted April 5, 2006 Author Share Posted April 5, 2006 You would think schools would make items like this available even if they didn't order a lot of them. There are always enough people interested to make it at least a break even situation plus the school gets some "walking" publicity for the teams. Thanks for the info. Does the Sioux baseball team ever play any night games or is it just too cold in the Spring in North Dakota? What size crowds turn out for the games? I guess I was unaware that stores were even making replicas of these jerseys....that's good for the program, like you were saying, as "walking" publicity. Night games don't exist at UND....at least not in the spring. Waaaaaaaaaaayyy too cold. Although there have been some springs where you could get away with it, the majority of the games are played in the early afternoon. As far as crowds go, it really varies on the weather and sometimes the opponent. On a nice day when UND played NDSU (they're "too cool for school" now) they'd get somewhere close to 1000 people....maybe more. On the average they'd get around 200-300 people. Attendance would also depend on how the team is doing. They always get the "regulars" (friends, family) but the seasons that they were doing well, they recieved a good portion of support from the student body as well. The football team was always good about supporting baseball, never really figured out why......but a group of them almost NEVER missed a home game. Good to see athletic teams (especially one as prestigious as UND football) supporting each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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