Minnesota State-Mankato baseball scores double play

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- It may be called Minnesota State-Mankato's baseball coach Dean Bowyer's version of a double play.

After signing New Ulm High School outfielder Eric Austvold to a baseball scholarship, Bowyer completed the double play of Eagle baseball players when he inked pitcher Bob Wellmann to a Letter of Intent on Monday.

"We are excited to get Bobby," Bowyer said. "The thing that I like about him is he has some technique, but we need to add some speed to his fastball.

"We have seen him throw 84 miles per hour, but he is now throwing 80, so he needs to add a couple of miles per hour to his fastball," he said.

Bowyer added that Wellmann, who was 9-1 last year for the Eagles with a 1.07 ERA has a good change-up.

"But the thing that I like about him the most is that he is a competitor," he said. "He wants the ball and gets after hitters. That is the important thing."

Wellmann, who was named to the St. Paul Pioneer Press All-State team, had boiled down his choices to Minnesota State-Mankato, Boone and the University of Minnesota-Duluth before inking with the Mavericks on Monday.

Bowyer also said that he likes high-energy people like Wellmann on his team.

"We missed that this year," he said. "We need a person who, when he is not pitching, [is going] to be into the game and keep the team going. He will add a lot with his enthusiasm."

Bowyer said that Wellmann does have a chance to pitch varsity ball as a freshman.

"That depends on how well he does and how much he improves on his game." Bowyer said. "He certainly does have a chance to do that. If not, he is going to get a good chance of playing JV but he is going to get his innings in.

"I hope that they are on the varsity because he is going to be a good pitcher for us," he said. "If not, he will go JV and pitch varsity ball his next year."

Bowyer said that one thing that will really help out Wellmann this off-season is the weight room. "We have a new strength coach and that has been really valuable to us," he said. "We get them on a program where they will be lifting four days a week when we are done with fall baseball."

He said that in the game of college baseball, you need to throw harder, run faster and hit the ball harder. "You can develop that so much in the weight room," he said.

Mark my words, Wellmann will be a force for the Mavericks in the future.

GOLD ON WINNING STREAK: After two disappointing losses in the first two games of the Upper Midwest Classic, New Ulm Legion Gold has now run off seven straight wins, culminating when it won the Pepsi Classic this past weekend in Rapid City, S.D.

Gold defeated Wheatland, Wyo. 8-0, Rapid City Stars 13-2, Rapid City 3-0, Mitchell, S.D. 8-2 and Gillette, Wyo. 11-6.

"I thought that we played well," Gold coach Dave Kunz said as his team improved to 19-4. "We played good defense, had good pitching especially from Tyson Anderson, Dusty Farasyn and Dusty Wilfahrt. They all pitched well. Tyson and Dusty (Farasyn) both had shutouts. Dusty Wilfahrt gave up one run in one of his games."

Kunz feels that after two losses in their first two games in the Upper Midwest Classic to Sioux Falls West and Creighton Prep, Gold has been on fire.

"They were not happy with their performances in either of those games," Kunz said. "We had some factors that were different in those losses.

"We did not play on Thursday (because of St. Cloud dropping out at the last minute), then (shortstop) Jamie Hoffmann came down with a sore shoulder," he said. "So we had to make some adjustments (on defense) because of that and we did not react very well to those things. Because of that, we probably played our two worst games of the year."

Kunz said that Hoffmann's shoulder is healing fine.

"He played three of our five games (In Rapid City) in the field and we had him DH the other two. We do not play again until this weekend (in the Detroit Lakes Water Carnival Tournament), so he will have all week to heal. It will get better."

Kunz said that the competition in Rapid City was good.

"Both Gillette and Rapid City are two very good ballclubs. Rapid City won the Miles City Montana Tournament the weekend before so they are strong," he said. "Mitchell beat Gillette and we beat both of them. Dusty Wilfahrt shut down Mitchell."

Kunz added that four of his team's five games were pretty good contests.

Rapid City wants to come to the Upper Midwest Classic next year.

"But being they won the Miles City Tournament, they may get invited back there next year which is the same time as our tournament," Kunz said.