Bulldogs whipped by Mankato in grid opener
The Bob Nielson era of UMD football began Saturday night at Griggs Field, and while there will be better days to come, the Bulldogs could take some positives away from their season-opening 37-15 whipping at the hands of Minnesota State-Mankato.
For one, the game drew 3,037 fans, who got off to a soggy start, but proved to be larger than any home crowd last season. For another, Nielson’s multiple-set offense showed some creativity and kept functioning, even as the score mounted against the Bulldogs.
The biggest highlight for the home fans was speedster Erik Hanson, who raced 92 yards for a touchdown on a third-quarter kickoff return for the first kick-return touchdown recorded by UMD since Mike Petrich pulled it off in 1985 — 14 years ago.
“Erik Hanson is the fastest guy on the team, and one of the fastest guys in the country,” Nielson said. “Unfortunately, we had too much practice on our kickoff returns today.”
The Bulldogs were worn down by the stronger Mavericks, from the North Central Conference, and the UMD defense had trouble containing running back T,.J. Schraufnagel — who gained 199 yards on 13 carries before sitting out the fourth quarter. And the Bulldogs had even less success stopping Maverick quarterback Zach Witt — who passed for two touchdowns and ran for two others while amassing 123 yards on 13 rushes and 192 more yards with his 11-for-27 passing.
“Their quarterback is extremely gifted,” said Nielson. “Look how many times he looked as if he might get sacked, and he got a first down or came up with a big play.
“As for Mark Drommerhausen, if I were to grade him on his first start at quarterback for us, he’d probably get a ‘C.’ He made some good decisions and we missed some open receivers on other plays. When you’re trying to throw the football and miss, you’re going to end up with a lot of third-down and long-yardage situations.
“Offensively, we had some chances to make some big plays, but we only made one all day, and that was the touchdown pass to Jeff Wenngatz.”
The big crowd started gathering for a pregame tailgate party, with the Bulldog Club selling brats and hot dogs outside the stadium. But the grey skies let loose about a half-hour before the 6 p.m. game time, and the downpour set the start back about 10 minutes. The Bulldogs lost the coin flip, and Mankato elected to receive.
The first quarter was evenly played, however, as the Bulldogs showed a wide variety of offensive plays and moved the ball well against the Mavericks in the 7-7 session. UMD might have scored first, getting a couple of big plays when Drommerhausen hit Erik Conner for a 22-yard gain on a third-and-18 screen pass from the ‘Dog 13, and later when Conner circled right end with a swing pass for 34 more yards. But that drive ended with a wide field goal attempt from 25 yards by John Rodberg, UMD’s just-found place-kicker.
Mankato retaliated on the next drive, going 80 yards in just seven plays. It took six of them to get to midfield, then Witt lofted a long pass down the middle to Joe McIntosh for a 47-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
The Bulldogs countered with an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive, thanks to three vital passes from Drommerhausen to Wenngatz. The first was for 11 yards on a third-and-8; the second was for 12 yards on a third-and-6; and the third, a high, arching pitch to Wenngatz, leaping high in the deep right corner of the end zone.
The 7-7 first quarter was only a memory by halftime, however, as the talented and deeper Mavericks followed Witt’s direction to the end zone. The 6-1, 200-pound senior from Morris set up the UMD defense by repeatedly running sophomore T.J. Schraufnagel up the middle, then running a rollout himself around right end for a 51-yard gain to set up Witt’s 4-yard pass to John Hoffman.
The next time Mankato got the ball, Witt found McIntosh for a 42-yard gain, and eventually ran in from the 3 on another option rollout for a 21-7 cushion. Brent Heller’s interception of a Drommerhausen pass gave the Mavericks the chance for a closing field goal by Scott Johnson to make it 24-7 at the half.
The second half opened with Minnesota State-Mankato getting possession at midfield after a UMD punt. Witt pulled two first downs out, passing to Hoffman for 15 yards on a third-and-13, and hitting Hoffman again for 7 yards on a fourth-and-5, and Schraufnagel took it in from the 3 for a whopping 31-7 edge.
But the Bulldogs didn’t concede anything, and Hanson electrified the crowd when he took the ensuing kickoff on his own 8, darted upfield, cut to the right sideline and outsprinted the last man for a 92-yard touchdown.
Trouble was, Mankato didn’t waver, either, and Witt brought the Mavericks right back down the new turf for a 90-yard march in only six plays — the sixth of which was Witt’s own 21-yard keeper.
“They’re a fully-funded Division II team,” said Nielson, referring to the difference in rules that allow 21 scholarships to the Bulldogs and 34 to NCC teams like Mankato. “You can see the difference in the depth. But I saw some encouraging things in our game, too. We’ve just got a ways to go.”
Minuses top pluses in UMD’s football opener
They came to Griggs Field in strong numbers, 3,037 of them to be exact, and they came early to eat hot dogs and leathery bratwursts in the parking lot, to endure a pregame downpour that interrupted the timetable, and they sat on they soaked metal slabs that serve as grandstand seats. Heck of a way to spend a Saturday night, but the loyalists showed up and stayed in place to watch UMD’s football team get whipped 37-15 by Minnesota State-Mankato.
The main attraction was the start of the Bob Nielson era as head coach, the first time in 41 years that someone other than Jim Malosky was head coach. Nielson, who came from Wisconsin-Eau Claire after Malosky retired over the summer, will have better days. He was frustrated by some of the things he saw in his first game at UMD’s helm, but he was encouraged by other things. And he kept it all in perspective.
That perspective includes a UMD tradition of scheduling powerhouse teams for nonconference play, as sort of overload training for the upcoming Northern Sun conference games. In Division II, teams can get different levels of scholarship funding. In the North Central Conference, where Mankato plays, teams can spend 34 full scholarships to attract football players, while the Northern Sun allows teams like UMD to use 21 scholarships.
“You can see the difference in the depth,” said Nielson, not complaining, but simply responding to the question. “But I saw some encouraging things in our game. We’ve just got a ways to go.”
Among the UMD highlights:
* The Bulldogs offset an early Mankato touchdown with a spirited, varied drive that covered 73 yards in 11 plays, thanks to three vital passes from quarterback Mark Drommerhausen to captain Jeff Wenngatz. The first was for 11 yards on a third-and-8; the second was for 12 yards on a third-and-6; and the third, a high, arching pass to a leaping Wenngatz, deep in the right corner of the end zone.
* The Bulldogs got their first kickoff-return touchdown since Mike Petrich ran one back 14 years ago, in 1985, when Erik Hanson raced 92 yards up the right sideline for a third-quarter touchdown. Several impressive kickoff returns by Hanson, called the “fastest guy on the team and one of the fastest in the country” by Nielson, also led the coach to one of his best post-game lines: “Unfortunately, we had too much practice on our kickoff returns today.”
* The Bulldogs defense mostly did an impressive job of containing the passing attack of Mankato’s gifted quarterback, Zach Witt, who was only 11-for-27 on his throws, thanks to the coverage and pressure applied by UMD’s defense.
* The Bulldogs were most impressive through the first quarter, when they stopped Mankato’s first attempt with the ball, then drove themselves downfield before sputtering with a missed field goal that could have provided an early lead. And even after that first-quarter 7-7 standoff, when the deeper Mavericks started capitalizing and building a lead, the ‘Dogs continued to battle throughout the game, showing a varied attack from Nielson’s newly installed multi-set style.
The things that lined up on the debit side of the ledger prevailed, of course, and those are things Nielson will stress this week as the Bulldogs regroup to play at St. Cloud State — another NCC full-funded college and another gruelling test for the hopeful UMD contingent.
Among the problems displayed against Mankato were:
* While the defense kept Witt to only 40-percent passing efficiency — which might be his poorest outing as the season progresses — Witt made maximum use of those 11 completions for 192 yards. Midway through the first quarter, when it was still scoreless, Witt needed six plays to get the Mavericks to midfield, then sent Joe McIntosh slanting across the middle fromthe left side. McIntosh got past the defense, Witt hit him in stride, and Mankato had a 47-yard touchdown. He passed for a second touchdown later, but, more decisively, found success running option rollouts, where he added 123 yards on 13 runs.
* Nielson’s pregame philosophy was to gain enough on first or second down to prevent third-and-long situations, and while that worked early, it faded later, against the depth of the Mavericks, and because of some inefficient execution of its new offense. “If I were to grade Mark Drommerhausen on his first start at quarterback, he’d probably get a ‘C,’ said Nielson. “He made some good decisions and we missed some open receivers on other plays. When you’re trying to throw the football and miss, you’re going to end up with a lot of third-down and long-yardage situations. Offensively, we had some chances to make some big plays, but we only made one all day, and that was the touchdown pass to Jeff Wenngatz.”
* The UMD defense softened against the repeated thrusts of T,.J. Schraufnagel, who didn’t gain much early, but wound up with 199 yards on 13 carries before the Maverick starters went to the bench in the fourth quarter.
* UMD’s traditional soft spot has been a kicking game, and Nielson pressed John Rodberg into emergency duty, so he can’t be blamed too critically for the opener. When UMD’s first drive, including pass plays to Erik Conner for 22 yards on a third-and-18, and 34 yards on another play, moved efficiently to the Mankato 15, Rodberg missed a 25-yard field goal try that may prove to be an easy chip shot with more experience.
* After the impressive first quarter, UMD was swamped by a 17-0 Maverick bulge in the second quarter, which pretty well made the second half anticlimactic.
The second half opened with Minnesota State-Mankato getting possession at midfield after a UMD punt. Witt pulled two first downs out, passing to John Hoffman for 15 yards on a third-and-13, and hitting Hoffman again for 7 yards on a fourth-and-5, and Schraufnagel took it in from the 3 for a whopping 31-7 edge.
“Their quarterback is extremely gifted,” said Nielson. “Look how many times he looked as if he might get sacked, and he got a first down or came up with a big play.”
But the Bulldogs didn’t concede anything, and Hanson electrified the crowd when he took the ensuing kickoff on his own 8, darted upfield, cut to the right sideline and outsprinted the last man for a 92-yard touchdown. Trouble was, Mankato didn’t waver, either, and Witt brought the Mavericks right back down the new turf for a 90-yard march in only six plays — the sixth of which was Witt’s own 21-yard keeper.
MASC stretches high school hockey season
A lot of hockey people around the state were upset when the state high school league’s representative assembly voted to not allow the espansion of the high school hockey season by three games. The vote of the 90-member group did allow the expansion of soccer, which further angered the hockey folks.
After all, hockey generates something like $1.3 million in revenue to benefit all the state’s high school functions, while the next-highest revenue-producing event is basketball, with something like $400,000 to add to the coffers. In other words, the nonhockey types should have a little more respect for the cash cow, regardless of whether they resent hockey or support it.
Now, as the school year gets started, hockey will get to expand by up to nine games for the upcoming season, but it took a slick legal maneuver in the legislature to get it accomplished, as an end-run around the high school league.
The state legislature passed a last-day bill that included a late amendment that calls for allowing the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission to conduct three sessions — each of which might include up to three games if done in tournament form — during the hockey season, which would not count on the high school league’s 22-game limit. These sessions could be done on Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas week, or Martin Luther King weekend, and would be Friday-through-Sunday to avoid missing school.
The high school coaches, overworked though they may be if you computed their salaries on an hourly basis, are generally ecstatic about the development. The whole thing was quarterbacked by Herb Brooks, the former Gopher, Olympic and NHL coach who also organized the elite prep fall and spring programs for high school players last year. Brooks was appointed as chairman of the hockey committee for the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission, and he clearly was responsible for getting this done.
The only concern by the coaches and hockey boosters is that the high school league might try to pressure superintendents or athletic directors into trying to suppress the whole thing. However, Dave Stead, executive director of the high school league, said that is not the case, and that the league will not only abide by the new state law but will try to take steps to expand and keep hockey within the league structure.
“If a coach or athletic director submits a request to the sports commission, they can be sanctioned as exhibition games to meet the new state law,” said Stead. “They could add three games, or up to nine more games if they schedule three tournaments. That would be a 40-percent increase over the existing limit.
“And they don’t have to follow high school league rules, wich means they could play 20-minute periods, or 30-minute halves, or international rules. Conversely, no high school league insurance would apply either, so it would be up to the schools and the MASC to get proper protection.”
Stead said that the underground criticism that non-hockey schools tend to make decisions that inhibit hockey is possibly overstated. Of the 90 representative assembly members who voted down the expansion of hockey last winter, 56 came from hockey-playing schools, Stead pointed out. And of the 56 from hockey schools, 26 voted to expand but 30 voted against expansion. Among those who voted against expansion were voters representing Duluth Central, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Eveleth, International Falls, Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Chisago Lakes, Princeton and Elk River.
Since the new state law went into effect, and the MASC has sent out its resolution — which allows similar expansion for all sports as additions that wouldn’t count against high school league limits — the high school league has sent out its own papers.
“My job,” said Stead, “is to do what the schools want. So we sent out a questionaire to the schools from the executive committee asking specifically if members wanted to see more games in the hockey season. And we specifically requested that schools that don’t have hockey, don’t respond to the hockey question. If we get good response from the hockey-playing schools, we’ll know exactly how much we should expand, and I’d try to expand the schedule accordingly.”
Among coaches, the optimism is obvious.
“I’m really excited,” said Duluth East coach Mike Randolph. “I had six scrimmages on Thanksgiving weekend, but we cancelled them to play in a tournament. Everybody has been scrimmaging anyway, so this is a way to do it in game settings and have them mean something. We’re scheduled to play at Aldrich Arena, in a tournament with Johnson, Hill-Murray, Hastings, White Bear Lake and others over Thanksgiving, and we’re already in the Edina tournament at Christmas, and I think we’ll play at Hastings over Martin Luther King weekend.”
The tournament at Edina, where former UMD All-American and North Star defenseman Curt Giles begins his first season as coach, was a high school league tournament, but now could go under MASC sanction, freeing up participating teams to add other nonconference games.
Tom McFarlane, at Cloquet, said: “We’ve been burning the phone lines trying to set things up. We originally were going to Alexandria for a big scrimmage get-together, now we’re not sure. It might be able to be part of this sports commission thing. We’ll probably pick up a few exhibition games out of it, too.”
Brendan Flaherty, Marshall’s hockey coach, is looking forward to opening his school’s new arena on Nov. 1, and has plans for an inaugural tournament because of the MASC arrangement and the new law. “We’ve got Benilde, Totino Grace, Eveleth, International Falls, Hermantown, Woodbury and Two Harbors coming in,” Flaherty said. “I know my A.D. [David Holmstead] sits on the deligate assembly and originally voted down the proposal for three more games, but we just had a meeting and he’s completely receptive and ready to support it now.”
As for Brooks, he’s off to Pittsburgh, where he has training camp responsibilities as a scout.
“My goal,” he said, “is to improve high school hockey, while keeping it within the school guidelines as much as possible. I don’t like to see so many kids leaving high school hockey to play elsewhere, and I think if we use the winter season properly, a lot of these summer things won’t be necessary, and we can develop skills effectively at the high school level by keeping the players in school.”
Sprints, WISSOTA points races, top Superior finale
The Up North auto racing season isn’t over yet, but it definitely is in its stretch drive.
This weekend, Superior Speedway, located at 4700 Tower Av., at the fairgrounds, will be the site of the Northern Nationals, the track’s annual finale, running both Friday and Saturday nights, and race fans can choose which program they prefer, or, more likely, take in both.
Friday’s show starts at 7:30 p.m. and features the IRA Outlaw Sprint cars, and Wissota Super Stocks. On Saturday, the show begins at 6:30 p.m. and Wissota Late Model, Street Stock and Modifieds will compete, with the Late Model show being the concluding event of the Amsoil Super Series.
The Sprint cars run as a spinoff to the nationally acclaimed Outlaw Sprint organization, although some drivers have moved over to the IRA class. The winged, dirt-spewing Sprinters always put on a good show bouncing around dirt tracks, and the Superior event is the perfect showcase.
The Super Stock segment of Friday’s show will be a chance for Brady Smith to get things together in his attempt to protect his slim lead in the Wissota national Super Stock points race. Smith, who was dominant early in the season, had a series of untimely mechanical breakdowns and a few mishaps that have cut into his once-large points lead.
On Saturday, the Amsoil Late Model Super Series will have to be spectacular, just to live up to the show they put on at the Silver 1000 in Proctor, in last Thursday’s season finale (except for an Oct. 9 Enduro). In that one, Steve Laursen of Cumberland, Wis., the Amsoil series leader, led the race for 32 of 40 laps before Rick Egersdorf of St. Paul got around him and won.
“I’m prejudiced,” said Chris Sailstad, Proctor’s vice president, “but a lot of people said it was the best race show in the last five years.”
Iron Range racers dominated the season points championships at Proctor, with Harry Hanson of Eveleth winning in Late Model, Bryan Aho of Chisholm winning in Super Stock, and Brad Hanson of Mountain Iron winning the Modified class. Scott Lawrence, of Superior, won the Street Stock class. Lawrence, incidentally, is the solid leader in Wissota national points in Street Stock.
Area racers will be hitting the road after this weekend, with the Wissota Nationals coming up at Cedar Lake, Wis., next week, and then a big show at Menomenie, Wis., the following week. That leads back to Ashland, where the Red Clay Classic will be held for Late Model, Super Stock and Modified racers the first weekend in October.
THE STRAIGHT LINE
The Line family of Wright, just west of Cloquet, made the recent BIR drag-racing Nationals its annual show of strength. In Stock competition, cars run in numerous different categories, and they dial in their predicted best times, then, with both cars in every race given staggered handicap starts, they run against those times, where going under disqualifies them until the finish.
Ninety cars qualified in the numerous classes of the Stock category at Brainerd, and the top 16 included Lawrence Line, the father of the racing family, in his 1985 Chevy Monte Carlso in K-Stock Automatic class, with a 12.157-second clocking that was 10th best. Jason Line qualified 13th, having switched to a D-Stock Automatic 1998 Pontiac Firebird for an 11.107 time. And Lance Line, Jason’s brother, who now lives in Cromwell, ran the 16th qualified time with an 11.116 in a D-Stock Automatic Buick.
None of the Lines made it as far as the third round against the top 90 qualifiers from throughout the country, although a pair of McGregor racers — Ron Prince in an E-Stock Automatic 1968 Firebird, and Glen DeMenge, in an L-Stock Automatic 1988 Cutlass — both made it to the fourth of seven elimination rounds.
Gus Phillipich of Virginia made it to the third of six rounds among 58 qualifiers in the Super Stock class, driving a 1988 Cutlass. And Jeff Perrella of Hibbing was 13th qualifier out of 32 in Competition Eliminator, and won a round in his 1932 Bantam roadster before losing in the second round.
CART ON ‘TARGET’
Rookie Juan Montoya has regained the season points lead in the CART Champ Car series, after a rain-drenched victory at Vancouver last weekend. Once again, the race proved the questionable nature of CART’s current venues, running on street courses where passing is virtually impossible, or flat-out short ovals where passing — and danger — are artificially enhanced by drafting.
But this weekend, find a TV set for the next-to-last race of the CART season at Laguna Seca, a pure road-racing track built into the hills of California, just west of Monterey. It is one of the best race tracks left in a nation of disappearing road-courses, and Montoya could clinch the victory with another strong showing.
It has been a great season for Montoya and teammate Jimmy Vasser in the Target/Chip Ganassi team cars, and also for Team Kool Green partners Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy. Franchitti and Tracy both had a chance to win at Vancouver, but Franchitti, desperate to pass Montoya for first place with the series points lead on the line, got over-anxious, and either tapped Montoya or simply lost it, and crashed.
Incidentally, talks continue between CART boss Andrew Craig and Indy Racing League czar Tony George. It appears that they might wind up with a compromise on engine design and get back together, and if some arrangement is worked out, even if it doesn’t take place until 2001, look for some CART drivers to race at the Indy 500 next year.
It may be that the comparatively nameless IRL needs CART’s skilled drivers more than CART needs the compromise, but CART needs the Indy 500 most of all. And race fans need an end to the feud, and one open-wheeled series to focus on.
Dukes must learn independent club strategies
The dilution of major league baseball can be best measured by this season. Would you rather watch two pennant contenders play a routine mid-August game, or watch two teams hopelessly out of contention play a completely meaningless game in mid-August, but have those two teams be the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals — with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire matching up home-run swings?
Easy question, eh?
The wonderful thing about baseball is that you can take from the game whatever enjoyment you choose to find. The scope of the whole season can be frustrating and meaningless compared with looking for the intriguing things that happen in each individual game.
That underscores the dilemma facing the Minnesota Twins, who, game after game this season, have offered minimal-and-dwindling attractions each game, while trying to threaten/coerce/beg (choose one) the public to build them a new stadium. Even winning a couple games in Yankee Stadium this week earned ho-hums from a front-running major league sporting public tuned only to the overall picture.
Meanwhile, across town in St. Paul’s cozy Midway Stadium, the Duluth-Superior Dukes were playing the St. Paul Saints in a four-game Northern League series that culminated Monday night, and the fourth game could ultimately prove critical if either is to make a run at second-half contention. Very likely, neither of them will, because Madison continues to lead, with first-half champ Schaumberg second in the division, and the Dukes and Saints are both below .500. And yet, these teams have a far greater chance of entertaining baseball fans than the Twins of 1999.
The Northern League is independent. Critics sneer because it is not major league, nor is it AAA, AA, A, or even B, C or rookie-league in status. It is made up of players who have either been discarded by one organization, or overlooked by all organizations, young men — and one woman — who are living out a dream of trying to make it, longshots or not, in professional baseball.
Dukes manager Larry See follows a routine every day, when, after all his on-field baseball commitments are completed, he finds himself a computer and checks out all of the players made available by every baseball organization. And while it is true that the Dukes and the Northern League are independent, See maintains that it takes a special mindset to succeed at this level, compared to what he calls “organized ball.”
“On any team, you’ve got to play together to succeed,” said See. “In baseball, sometimes guys worry more about their own personal agenda than about the team, which is understandable for players in organized ball, where the emphasis is to work on what you have to do to move up to the next level.
“Here, we have to worry about winning.”
That’s not to say the Northern League players have no chance of moving up. In fact, they are scouted constantly, and various organizations are always looking for good prospects. But most Northern Leaguers are destined to not move up, and for those players it’s important to change outlooks and instead of feeling overlooked or under-appreciated or have a chip-on-the-shoulder attitude about pro organizations, to try to make the most of their opportunity in the Northern League.
“It takes a different mentality, and it’s hard for some players to make the change,” said See. “The players who have played independent ball before understand. Look at teams like Winnipeg, Sioux City, and Fargo-Moorhead — the strongest teams in the Northern League. Winnipeg has only two guys on their roster who came off organized ball teams last year, Fargo-Moorhead has one, and Sioux City has none.
“They know what independent baseball is all about. We’re trying to build that kind of mentality. It’s a learning process, and maybe if we can bring ’em back next year, they’ll understand it better.”
It’s possible that See’s concept is what motivated Anthony Lewis to move to a completely different plateau as a hitter in the past week. Last season, Lewis joined the Dukes from Wichita, and looked like a big, burly guy who finished last season looking as though he might hit with power, but wouldn’t do much for average. He started this year the same, and, by his own estimate, hit “.220-something” through the first half. He hit better in recent weeks, and got his average up to a respectable .260 before the Dukes came home last week.
Then he took off on a hot streak that you aren’t likely to see, at any level of baseball. In a seven-game span leading up to Monday night, Lewis’ ledger looked like this:
H-AB R RBI Result
2-4 1 2 W,9-4
3-5 1 2 W,7-1
4-4 3 5 W,14-9
4-5 2 4 W,10-9
2-4 1 3 L,8-6
2-4 2 2 L,15-7
2-6 1 4 W,20-11
Not a bad week. He went 19-for-32 — a .590 batting average — with four home runs, six doubles, 11 runs scored and 22 runs batted in. Somehow, “player of the week” was both well-deserved and completely inadequate to explain how “Big Papa” had ripped the ball all week.
The streak seemed to cool off on Sunday, when he was 1-5 until his final at-bat, on which he hit a mammoth, 3-run home run to climax a 23-hit, 20-run onslaught. And tossing out that 2-for-6 game, he hit .654 for the previous six games.
On Monday, however, the Dukes ran into that rarest of Northern League events — a well-pitched game. Lewis got only one single in four at-bats as Saints starter Hank Thoms gave up only five hits and two relievers yielded none, and the Saints won 10-1. While it may not have mattered because of the one-game power-outage, the Dukes also faltered defensively, variously overthrowing cutoff men and failing to cover bases, which allowed the Saints to capitalize on some aggressive baserunning.
In the overall picture, the loss prevented the Dukes from splitting the series, instead dropping them back into last place in the division at 11-16, one game behind the Saints and five back of Madison. Not that it gets any easier, with the Dukes moving on to Fargo for a series before coming home to face Winnipeg this weekend. But the big picture isn’t as much fun to focus on as the little attractions, these days, which is the beauty of baseball.
Lewis was 1-3 in the game before his incredible week-long streak, so his 1-for-4 finale in St. Paul propelled him to Fargo on the wings of a nine-game hitting streak, during which he was 21-for-39, a .538 clip, which lifted his season average to .302. That’s not up to Bryan Warner, whose .349 is second-best in the league, or midseason acquisition Ira Smith, who is at .348 with half the at-bats, but it does push Lewis right up there with Brandon Evans (.301) to give the Dukes a formidible topside to their batting order.
Beyond that, whether the Dukes gather everything together when they return home for a great run through their final dozen games, or whether they don’t, they are learning what Larry See means about what it takes to succeed in independent ball, and they are guaranteed to generate some great entertainment through the closing weeks of summer.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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