Wayne State Eliminates Southwest Minnesota St. From NSIC Baseball Tournament

May 9, 2008 | Box Score | Tournament Bracket

Wayne, Neb. - Senior Nick Schumacher proved why he was chosen the 2008 NSIC Pitcher of the Year by striking out a career-high 14 batters Friday afternoon to lead 15th-ranked Wayne State in a convincing 9-1 win over Southwest Minnesota State at the Northern Sun Conference Baseball Tournament played in Wayne at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex.  With the win, the 40-10 Wildcats move to the winner's bracket final Saturday at 10 a.m. while eliminating Southwest Minnesota State from the tournament with the Mustangs finishing at 24-20.

Wayne State gave Schumacher plenty of run support early, scoring seven runs in the first three innings, and the Wildcats never looked back in the 9-1 win.  WSC used an RBI triple from Marc Manganaro and run-scoring singles by Alex Koch and Sean Soderberg to grab an early 3-0 lead in the first inning.  Koch produced another RBI single in the second inning to put the 'Cats in front 4-0.  In the third inning, Soderberg tripled and scored on Nick Bidroski's single to make the score 5-0.  Justin Hemauer's fielders' choice brought home Bidroski to give WSC a 6-0 advantage with Josh Yost delivering an RBI single to score Brian Sulzman to push the lead to 7-0 after three innings. (Read More)

Upper Iowa Eliminates Winona State From NSIC Baseball Tournament

May 9, 2008 | Box Score | Tournament Bracket

Wayne, Neb. - The Upper Iowa baseball team continued their run in the Northern Sun Conference Tournament this morning against Winona State in Wayne, Nebraska. The Peacocks entered the tourney as the #2 seed, but were upset by Bemidji State in the first game of the NSIC Tournament by a 5-2 count. Upper Iowa trailed 3-1 heading to the third inning, but put three runs on the board in the top of the third. The Peacocks did not trail the rest of the game, but were tied with the Warriors on two occasions. UIU took the lead for the final time in the top of the ninth when they scored three runs to break a 6-6 tie and win the first elimination game 9-6.

The Peacocks scored a run in the first inning when Kreston Albright was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a sac bunt from Jarrod Esquibel. Nick Fjelland then stepped up and knocked in Albright with a double down the right field line. The Warriors were quick to erase the run in the bottom of the inning with a single to center that scored one. (Read More)

SMSU Wins In First Round of NCAA Regional Tournament

May 8, 2008 | Box Score || Regional Site | Bracket

Emporia, Kan. - Winona State University went on a home run binge to defeat Southwest Minnesota State University 8-1 and remain unbeaten in the NCAA Division II North Central Region Tournament held on Turnball Field at the Trussler Sports Complex. The No. 6 Seed Warriors (37-13) blasted out three home runs to build a 6-0 lead off the No. 2 Seed SMSU Mustangs (39-11). The victory improved the Warriors' winning streak to seven games and three straight over SMSU.

The long-ball parade for the Warriors began in the top of the second when Callie Givens (pictured) ripped her sixth home run of the season, a two-out shot to leftfield. Then in the third inning the Warriors errupted for five runs thanks to a three-run home run to rightfield by Mollie Bjallend, her seventh homer of the year, and a two-run round tripper to the gap in leftcenter, by Annie Stuedemann, her third hit of the season that cleared the fence.

Bjelland finished the game with two hits and Terra Halron also came up with two hits for the Warriors.

For the second game in a row Kristen Fossell went the distance for the Warriors. Fossell kept things interesting as she gave up lead-off doubles in four of the first five innings, but only one turned into a run for the Mustangs and Fossell went on to retire the last nine batters she faced. For the game, Fossell gave up six hits, walked one and struck out five.

Southwest Minnesota State will play Minnesota State at 6:45 p.m. Winona State will play the winner of the Emporia State/UNO game tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

NSIC Baseball All-Conference Release

May 8, 2008 | Full Release

St. Paul,  Minn. – The 2008 NSIC Baseball All-Conference Team has been announced as voted on by the league coaches. NSIC Regular Season Champions from Wayne State lead all teams with seven picks, including five first team members and three specialty awards. WSC's Nick Schumacher was named NSIC Pitcher of the Year while Marc Manganaro was NSIC Co-Player of the Year and Nick Bidroski was NSIC Co-Freshmen of the Year. Northern State's Adam Kampsen, the NSIC Preseason Player of the Year, shared Player of the Year honors with Manganaro while Minnesota, Crookston's Jake Poehler shared Freshman of the Year with Bidroski. Concordia-St. Paul's Joe Abellera was named NSIC Newcomer of the Year while Upper Iowa's Mark Danker was named NSIC Coach of the Year. Danker led the Peacocks to a 24-8 mark in the NSIC, good enough for second place.

2008 All-Conference First Team
#	Name	Pos.	Yr.	School	Hometown
15	Nick Schumacher	P	Sr.	Wayne State	Nebraska City, Neb.
29	Jake Schmidt	P	Jr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Oakdale, Minn.
33	Mitch Herrick	P	Sr.	Wayne State	Council Bluffs, Iowa
10	Bryan Ruff	P	Sr.	Winona State	Lakeville, Minn.
16	Brandon Wilhelmi	R-P	Sr.	Southwest Minnesota St.	Clements, Minn.
11	Chris Herbert	C	Jr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Wht Br Lake, Minn.
7	Marc Manganaro	1B	Sr.	Wayne State	Laurel, Neb
21	Jake Waldman	2B	Sr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Hopkins, Minn.
5	Adam Kampsen	SS	Sr.	Northern State	Paynesville, Minn.
10	Alex Koch	3B	Jr.	Wayne State	Omaha, Neb.
13	Nick Fjelland	IF	Sr.	Upper Iowa	Alleman, Iowa
7	Mike Feldman	OF	Sr.	University of Mary	Bismarck, N.D.
3	Brendon Furrow	OF	Sr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Johnston, Iowa
2	Joe Abellera	OF	Sr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Hopkins, Minn.
20	Joe Wendte	OF	So.	Wayne State	South Sioux City, Neb.
27	Andrew Kes	DH	Jr.	Winona State	Eagan, Minn.
All-Conference Second Team
#	Name	Pos.	Yr.	School	Hometown
8	Brian Solemsaas	P	Jr.	Upper Iowa	Bismarck, N.D.
34	Ross Hellenbrand	P	So.	Winona State	Middleton, Wis.
10	Jared Pick	P	So.	Southwest Minnesota St.	Luverne, Minn.
20	Donny Erdall	P	Sr.	Winona State	Bloomington, Minn.
12	Blaze Culliton	R-P	Jr.	University of Mary	Great Falls, Mont.
8	Anthony Stoloski	C	Sr.	Bemidji State	Half Moon Bay, Calif.
34	Ross Hellenbrand	1B	So.	Winona State	Middleton, Wis.
12	Ronnie Olson	2B	So.	Winona State	Rochester, Minn.
11	Lex Reinke	SS	Sr.	Southwest Minnesota St.	Shoreview, Minn.
28	Zane Froelich	3B	Jr.	Concordia-St. Paul	Sioux Falls, S.D.
6	Greg Laughlin	IF	Jr.	Southwest Minnesota St.	Eden Prairie, Minn.
8	Jake Poehler	OF	Fr.	Minnesota, Crookston	Coon Rapids, Minn.
21	Kreston Albright	OF	Jr	Upper Iowa	Snohomish, Wash.
25	Justin Hemauer	OF	Jr.	Wayne State	Moundsview, Minn.
9	Sean Soderberg	OF	Jr.	Wayne State	Fremont, Neb.
12	Lucas Wilsing	DH	So.	Upper Iowa	Sheboygan, Wis.

2008 NSIC Co-Players of the Year:
Adam Kampsen, Northern State (Sr., SS, Paynesville, Minn.)
Marc Manganaro, Wayne State (Sr., 1B, Laurel, Neb)

2008 NSIC Pitcher of the Year:
Nick Schumacher, Wayne State (Sr. RHP, Nebraska City, Neb.)

2008 NSIC Newcomer of the Year:
Joe Abellera, Concordia-St. Paul (Sr., OF, Hopkins, Minn.)

2008 NSIC Co-Freshmen of the Year:
Nick Bidroski, Wayne State (Fr, 2B, Omaha, Neb.)
Jake Poehler, Minnesota, Crookston (Fr., OF, Coon Rapids, Minn.)

2008 NSIC Coach of the Year:
Mark Danker, Upper Iowa

Northern Sun Presidents Rise to Occasion

May 6, 2008 | NCAA Release

By Gary Brown, NCAA News
Presidents from every Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference member institution have pledged their support to Division II’s game-environment initiative.

The Northern Sun is the first conference to demonstrate unanimous support after presidents of league governing boards convened with the Division II Presidents Council two weeks ago to talk about game-environment issues.

Presidents and chancellors at the April 23 meeting signed a pledge form that stated:

“The Division II Presidents Council and representatives from Division II conference governing boards affirm that athletics events should reflect the values of higher education and the mission of each institution. Division II emphasizes learning and development in a personal setting. As chancellors and presidents, we are concerned about the uncivil behavior exhibited at college athletics contests, and, thereby, pledge to work together to make respectful, family-friendly events a standard of the Division II experience.”

Presidents at the April 23 meeting signed the form, but many also pledged to take the matter back to their conferences for additional support. It took only a few days for the Northern Sun members to get on board. At the league’s spring meetings April 28, Presidents Council member and Southwest Minnesota State President David Danahar and Minnesota State Moorhead President Roland Barden relayed actions from the earlier meeting to their Northern Sun peers.

“We explained our discussion about game environment and how it was desired for us to present a strong position on this for practical and ethical reasons,” Danahar said. “As you can see, there was no confusion about the importance of monitoring the atmosphere at our collegiate events.”

The presentation included a preview of the new Division II game-environment Web site (www.diicommunity.org/gameenvironment/), which features one of the league’s member schools, Winona State, as an institution that has implemented programming and tools to create a positive atmosphere at basketball events.

“As you might expect, that presentation played very well with our group,” Danahar said.

Northern Sun athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletics representatives also viewed the presentation at the league meetings to ensure that all levels of athletics oversight understood the value of the initiative.

Division II’s game-environment effort is one that combines the need for sportsmanship from players and coaches on the courts and fields, but extends to ensuring that the venues are family-friendly, comfortable and lively. The newly launched Web site, which includes resources, success stories and teachable moments about game-environment issues, launched with almost 50 suggestions already from Division II members about staging a positive game environment. Those examples are expected to grow – much like the community-engagement ideas did – as more members use the site in the coming months.

Signatures on the Northern Sun game-environment pledge card:
David Danahar, Southwest Minnesota State
Robert Oliver, Augustana (South Dakota)
Jerry Fischer, Mary (on behalf of President Sister Thomas Welder)
Bill Wade, Minnesota Duluth (on behalf of Chancellor Kathryn Martin)
Jon Quistgaard, Bemidji State
Charles Casey, Minnesota-Crookston
Judith Ramaley, Winona State
Earl H. Potter, St. Cloud State
Alan Walker, Upper Iowa
Robert Holst, Concordia-St. Paul
Richard Collings, Wayne State (Nebraska)
Richard Davenport, Minnesota State Mankato
Patrick Schloss, Northern State

Minnesota Moorhead President Roland Barden signed the pledge at the April 23 Division II meeting; Davenport and Schloss pledged support via conference call.

Watch Web Stream of NSIC TV Showcase #4

Click Here for March 12 ,2008 NSIC Showcase

Show four features highlights from the 2008 NSIC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament, NSIC Track & Field Championships along with all-conference awards as well as a feature on the WBCA "Think Pink" promotion.

NSIC Radio Spotlight - Week 20

March 4, 2008

Week 20 Northern Sun Spotlight Radio Show
Guests: Wayne State MBB Coach Rico Burkett & U-Mary Head T&F Coach Mike Thorson
http://northernsun.org/radio/NSIC_WEEK20_04Mar08.wma

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