Lynn Gregory hugs her son, junior pitcher/slugger Reese Gregory, following a May 17 loss in the NCAA Division II Central Region tournament title game. Photo by Jeff Wood ’81 ’87 ’95.
The Faber Field lobby was packed, post-game, with Huskies Baseball family and fans.
Tears and hugs marked a postseason run that fell short of expectations with an 8-7 loss to Henderson State University in the NCAA Division II Central Region championship May 17 in west St. Cloud.
But, Coach Pat Dolan ’92 reminded players and the faithful that theirs was an extraordinary season. “This just doesn’t happen,” he said.
This is:
- A school-record 54 wins against five losses
- National No. 1 ranking
- Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) league title
- NSIC tournament title
This is: Reese Gregory earning honors as a pitcher and a hitter. The St. Cloud native is the Central Region pitcher of the year — so chosen by the American Baseball Coaches Association and sponsored by Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc. Earlier in the month Gregory earned NSIC tournament team honors for his performance at designated hitter. He finishes with a .339 batting average and 39 runs batted in.
Gregory entered the annals of Huskies Baseball lore for winning postseason games on consecutive days. He pitched a 10-inning shutout of Missouri Southern State May 15, then beat Minnesota State University Mankato in relief May 16. A junior, Gregory’s season marks are 13 wins, no losses and a 1.49 earned-run average.
This is: Senior catcher Michael Jurgella, Plover, Wisconsin, earning NSIC player of the year honors and being named to the Capital One Academic All-District® Baseball Team. He graduated magna cum laude and had a perfect fielding percentage across 59 regular- and post-season games.
This is: Landing 11 players on the NSIC Spring All-Academic team, including senior pitcher Karsen Forsman, Dassel. Forsman, a cum laude graduate in mass communications, who earned multiple awards for news reporting, has a job with an ABC television affiliate in southern Minnesota.
This is: Senior outfielder Eric Loxtercamp, a cum laude graduate from Cold Spring, leading the team in hits and runs while committing one error in 59 games.
This is: Students, on hiatus, returning to St. Cloud to work the tournament and to root in the stands for their classmates. Notably, KVSC 88.1 FM carried five tournament games, thanks to broadcasters Declan Goff, St. Paul, and Jeremy Klein, Avon, and Ryan Sanders, Windsor, Colorado.
This is: True freshman pitcher Sheldon Miks winning 10 games and finishing the season with a 1.15 earned-run average. The Shakopee native took Sunday’s loss in relief, giving up a tie-breaking single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Henderson State (31-19) advances to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship May 23-30 in Cary, North Carolina.
St. Cloud State has been to the Central Region tournament five times since 2010, finishing four times as runner-up.
Through eight seasons, Dolan has led Huskies Baseball to 323 wins and 111 losses.
A downcast Beau Fandel enters the Faber Field lobby. The freshman infielder recorded a hit and scored a run in the title game loss to Henderson State. Photo by Jeff Wood ’81 ’87 ’95.
