| 19 April, 2003 Elliott column: Gussies get new manager By Tom Elliott telliott@stcloudtimes.com |
| ST. AUGUSTA ? Dave Schultzetenberg was kidding around with his son, Dustin. Why, the elder Schultzetenberg said, of course he could manage. |
| Easy. |
| "I was just joking," Dave Schultzetenberg said. "I was saying, 'I can coach better than that.' Now look who's doing it." |
| That would be Dave Schultzetenberg, 42, new manager of the St. Augusta Gussies. |
| The Gussies open the 2003 Central Valley League amateur baseball season by playing host to the St. Nicholas Nicks at 2 p.m. today. |
| It'll be Schultzetenberg's managerial debut for a new-look St. Augusta team that has gone through tremendous change. |
| Four of the Gussies' most veteran players have retired. Rick Kloepner, whose smooth left-handed swing often led St. Augusta in batting average, is gone. So is pesky Dan Lommel, an expert bunter and hit-and-run specialist with fine defensive skills. Rick Primus, whose old-style batting helmet with no ear flap was perhaps the last in existence in these parts, also retired. |
| "I asked him if he wanted his helmet," Schultzetenberg said. "It's still sitting in the shack (at the ballpark). But I haven't gotten his uniform yet." |
| Tim Benoit, a workhorse pitcher and shortstop, also retired, perhaps convalescing to rest his weary arm. |
| All will be missed at the St. Augusta diamond, conveniently located behind the church and next to the cemetery (and across the street and kitty-corner from the bar, of course). |
| "That's about a hundred years of experience," said Schultzetenberg, who added later, "I can tell you, I'm not going into this without a few butterflies in my stomach." |
| Schultzetenberg will field one of the Central Valley's youngest teams. |
| "God, I don't know if I'm going to recognize them," said Watkins pitcher Bruce Geislinger of the Gussies. "The whole league seemed to have a lot of veterans get out of it this year." |
| The pitching staff features left-hander Zach Laudenbach (21 years old) and right-handers Tom Fuchs (21), Scott Kramer (22) and Chad Rademacher (22). Left-hander Jeff Brunner was coerced out of retirement. The 33-year-old will pitch a bit and help out as a pseudo-pitching coach. |
| Around the horn, catcher Kyle Meyer, first baseman Dave Fritz and infielders Dustin Schultzetenberg, Travis Winter, Rick Clubb, John Schneider and Jeff Holt all are in their early 20s or less. |
| "I've got a lot of new names to learn," said Jim Laudenbach, who's coaching this season and probably won't play. "I've got about half of them down." |
| The outfield does have veterans ? Doug Laudenbach, coming out of retirement to play left, Adam Senart in center and Jason Benoit in right. |
| Fuchs, who pitches at North Dakota State, and Dustin Schultzetenberg, who plays third base at Dakota State in Madison, S.D., return after the college season ends. |
| "We've got 24 games scheduled and at least two more in the playoffs," Dave Schultzetenberg said. "I'd be real happy, with the youth with have, to be at the .500 mark by then. |
| "This is sort of a one-year deal for me," he continued. "If Dustin wasn't playing, I don't know if I'd be doing it. But I'm at all the games anyway, so I figure, what the heck. Give it a shot and see how it goes." |
| This column is the opinion of Times assistant sports editor Tom Elliott. Call him at 259-3661 or send an e-mail at telliott@stcloudtimes.com |
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