| 19 April, 2003 Amateur baseball: Watkins ready for another season By Tom Elliott telliott@stcloudtimes.com |
| A couple players have left or retired. A couple of younger ones have been signed. Otherwise, not much has changed for the Watkins Clippers as they prepare for their 2003 opener. |
| Watkins will be the team to beat in the Central Valley League, which opens play today. The Clippers, state Class B champs in 2002, are on a run of six straight state tournament berths and 10 out of the past 11 years. |
| Keeping Watkins coming to the ballpark ? the Clippers play Pearl Lake at 1:30 p.m. today in Marty ? is a love of the game. |
| "I suppose it's simply because we enjoy the game so darn much," said Bruce Geislinger, the Clippers' player/manager. "And, a second title wouldn't be so bad." |
| Gone are Scott Geislinger, who retired, and Jason Fischer, who has signed with St. Cloud Orthopedic Sports. Both were starters. Fischer played for Orthopedic Sports before going to Watkins three years ago. |
| Returning is Rob Pederson, whose game ? he's a good bunter and can execute the hit and run ? makes him ideal for wood bats, which return to the amateur baseball scene for the second straight season. Pederson, head boys basketball coach at Eden Valley-Watkins, didn't play for the Clippers last year. |
| Also added to the roster is Dave Hokenson, who played for Becker. Josh Hiltner, who is still in high school, also joins the team. |
| "A lot of people don't really understand that while we've been there so long, some of us really aren't that old," Geislinger said. "Tom Frericks and Tim Haines, those guys are a little older. But everybody else is in their 20s or early 30s." |
| Frericks and Haines both will play. Frericks will catch, pitch and probably play some third. Haines is an outfielder and pitcher. |
| Dan Hagen, away at school in Nebraska, also will catch when he returns. |
| The pitching staff features Bruce Geislinger, Stan Groskreutz, Pat Geislinger and Todd Geislinger. |
| Pederson and Miah Kramer are likely to play first. Rick Geislinger returns at second. Pat Geislinger plays short and Groskreutz plays third. Hokenson figures in the mix. |
| Eric Malvin plays left field, Todd Geislinger plays center and Haines is in right. Todd Geislinger led the Clippers in homers with 11. |
| "By the end of last year, we had a lot of guys hitting the ball for power," Bruce Geislinger said. "I see a big year out of Eric and Todd. Our park is perfect for wood bats." |
| As it does each season, the Central Valley League has realigned its divisions. |
| The South Division includes Watkins, the Cold Spring Rockies, Luxemburg, St. Nicholas and Litchfield. The North has Eden Valley, Pearl Lake, Kimball and St. Augusta. |
| Litchfield is back in the league after being kicked out of the North Star League last fall for eligibility questions on some of its players. The Blues, a perennial state tournament team, will play in Class B this season and be in the same region with the Cold Spring Springers, the Ultimate Sports Bar & Grill of Waite Park and the Brainerd Bees. |
| "We'll have some changes as far as personnel," said Litchfield manager Rube Nathe. "I believe we will still be competitive, but the loss of that many starters will hurt. We will have to do some rebuilding, but hope some of our new additions can fill those positions." |
| Among notable players who have retired in the South include Luxemburg's Tom Harren and Litchfield's Dalen Jones, Tom Reuter, Andy Johnson, Brady Toops and Ryan Anderson. |
| In the North, Jason Schlangen, a University of North Dakota pitcher who has signed with the St. Cloud River Bats, won't be back with Pearl Lake. |
| St. Augusta has lost a number of veterans, including Dan Lommel, Rick Primus, Rick Kloepner and Tim Benoit. |
| Eden Valley and Kimball both figure to be strong. |
| The Hawks (19-10 last year) had five regulars bat better than .300 in 2002, led by Gordy Pennertz (.357, 11 RBI), Joby McCann (.354, 9 RBI), Dan Berg (.342, 7 RBI), Joe Thiel (.333, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and Chuck Geislinger (.324, 1 HR, 10 RBI). |
| Eden Valley is led on the mound by Matthew Pennertz (7-3, 2.11 ERA) and Dustin Schoenecker (6-1, 2.63). |
| Kimball (25-10) features catcher Scott Marquardt (.331, 6 HR, 30 RBI), Joe Pennertz (.326, 4 HR, 32 RBI) and Mike Arnold (.345, 3 HR, 24 RBI) on offense. |
| The Express had a 2.75 team earned-run average. Justin Hill (4-1, 1.71 ERA), overcoming arm surgery, Kris Hagen (4-4, 3.97), Pat Arnold (5-0, 2.71) and Brooks Marquardt (2-1, 2.64) are manager Tom Marquardt's main pitching options. |
| This year's state tournament is in Dundas and Northfield. Regionals for most Class C teams begin at the end of July. |
| "One thing you can say about our league is that it always does OK come region time," Bruce Geislinger said. "We seem to hold our own." |
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