The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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February 8, 2009

Junior center fielder leads Bethany baseball

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  • Bethany Lutheran College center fielder Justin Schwecke is one of two All-UMAC players on this year’s roster. The Vikings open their season tonight at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Pat Christman

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By Shane Frederick

MANKATO — It didn’t take long for Bethany Lutheran College baseball player Justin Schwecke to go from happy to be here to everyday player.

Like one at-bat.

“As a freshman he said he was just hoping to play a couple of games and be part of the team,” coach Ryan Kragh said. “We were in Florida, and he came in to pinch hit and hit a bases-clearing triple off the wall. It was just a rope, too.

“He’s basically played every game after that.”

Now a junior, and the Vikings’ starting center fielder and No. 3 hitter, Schwecke remembers that day well.

“I didn’t now what to expect,” he said. “But once you get that first hit, you get some confidence and think, ‘I can play with these guys.’”

The Buffalo Lake native and Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop High School graduate was a first-team All-Upper Midwest Athletic Conference selection last season. Schwecke hit .363 with 12 doubles and led the Vikings with five home runs, five triples and 38 RBIs.

“He’s athletic, a hard worker and hard-nosed,” Kragh said. “He’s a leader, too. He’s one of those kids you wish you had 25 of.”

Schwecke will pitch for Bethany this season, too, Kragh said, most likely as a reliever.

While he has yet to take the mound for Bethany, Schwecke pitched in high school as well as for the Gibbon Reds amateur team the last four summers.

“The best approach is to relax and have fun,” Schwecke said.

Bethany went 22-15 overall last season and finished second in the UMAC with a 12-6 record. However, including Schwecke, just three starting position players and two starting pitchers return from that team.

Sophomore shortstop Trent Sonnicksen, a Blue Earth native, shared the UMAC’s rookie-of-the-year award last season, hitting .350 and scoring 35 runs. Junior catcher Steve Hoostal (.286) is also back.

“They say if you can control the middle of the field, you’re going to be all right,” Kragh said. “But we’re going to have a new third baseman, a new second baseman, a new first baseman and new right and left fielders. “

The veterans on the mound include an all-conference selection from a year ago in junior left-handed pitcher Aston Dorris. Dorris went 3-4 with a 4.05 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched.

“He’s as good as anybody in the conference,” Kragh said.

Bethany also returns a pair of junior right-handers. Michael Greibrok went 3-1 with 17 strikeouts over 28 innings, and Josh Gasow had two saves and 23 strikeouts, along with a 2.84 ERA, over 19 innings.

Both Kragh and Schwecke said that they’re excited about the Vikings’ youth — despite all of the unknowns that come with having eight freshmen and three transfers on the roster.

“We’re really young, which can be exciting, too,” Schwecke said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how this team is going to play.”

The Vikings open the season at 6:30 p.m. today — the earliest start in program history — when it plays North Central in a doubleheader at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Their first home game is scheduled for March 27 against St. Scholastica.

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