The Purple got one more deal done as corner Akayleb Evans gave himself a birthday present, signing Wednesday.
NDSU's week began with a big step up for it's main play by play man Jeff Culhane. His next (and possibly final) position will be in Tallahassee. To some it may not seem like a development worth mentioning but the primary orator for an institution without national scope is nearly as valuable as any role in the athletics department.
Men's 🏀 also made some waves as they were confirmed to be participants in New Mexico's Classic the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Of the handful of current & former 🏃 members to compete at the US championships Sam Roller finished fourth. Prior to that, Amanda Anderson & Trevor Otterdahl were announced as an Academic All-Americans. The accolades kept coming as Stevie Keller was named Coach of the Year & Kari Wolfe received Field Athlete of the Year!
Moorhead State had four members of it's 🏃 team named to the All-Region team
Concordia had a harvest week as wrestling & softball announced additions for the upcoming school year.
The 2022/2023 season began this week and we got the first experience of how Tim Connelly likes to handle his organization. For those who just want players without a whole lot of extra steps, draft night was not your cup of tea. Some had said trades should be expected but with the Association's moronic insistence on not handling trades quickly it was a headache for several hours Thursday night. When the dust settled the Howl could celebrate adding size & defensive potential to the roster.
A dedicated post is upcoming so not much more will be said at this time but along with the selections came the formation of the Summer League team. So far Kevon Harris (Toronto D-League), Theo John & Phillip Wheeler (Piratas Quebradillas) have been confirmed as members of the team alongside Walker Kessler, Wendell Moore Jr. & Josh Minott. Sprinkling in some of the back-end-of-the-roster guys and it could be an interesting watch in Vegas.
We may have gotten a glimpse of how tightly-contested the next three months will be when Minnesota & Cleveland had a classic series. The team-formerly-known-as-Tribe took two of the three but by a mere run each time, with the third match finishing 1 - 0 for the Replicants. After taking the lead in the division ever-so-briefly, CLE got swept by Boston to fall further behind than they were before, because Minnesota handled Colorado. Now it's a five-piece in the city near Akron which will provide several more data points for the nip/tuck nature of the battle for the top spot. Since the MN ops are all about analytics the team could win twice by winning three or more times - on the field and in the clubhouse.
If they do acquire any more arms before the Aug 2nd trade deadline the players will hear a new voice as Louisiana St. hired pitching coach Wes Johnson Sunday afternoon.
As the temps soared the Bolts provided a reminder that the ice is not so far off with their 2022/23 schedule. They took another step toward the season with the announcement of another member of the coaching staff, Carter Krier.
The Fire Birds started the week with an individual accolade for one of their best, Leo Piña who was named Batter of the Week. With a seven-game week they may have a similar announcement for one of their guys Monday. Along the way Kevin McGovern moved into the top spot in Association history for wins all time with his 56th! They had little trouble taking all four from Lake Country and then took two of three from Kane County as Piña & McGovern finished the week strong.
With 2.5 months to go in the season the North has already developed into a three-team race, currently paced by Chicago with their neighbors to the North just behind Fargo. The Dogs will roll-in for two series the rest of the way while oddly, Milwaukee & Fargo will not face each other again before the postseason.
Reminder that scores are added daily plus there's a new home for recruiting news, so check back often!
We're in the downtime part of the year but the prep season still broke some news.
At the national meet Moorhead's Speech & Debate took home first place!
Sophomore-to-be Jaiden Haile was also the subject of a major development as UND offered the forward a scholarship. For those who may not know, Horace has yet to play a single varsity game against Class A so it's as unprecedented as it is exciting for her!
The Invaders went into the Holiday break with a thud, losing to Kansas City 27 - 6 but picked up another win from MinnDak, by forfeit, which means they are down to a single game before the playoff - at home versus St. Paul on the 16th.
The men had a tough start to the week, losing 2 - 0 in Rochester but ended with a flurry against LC Aris, which you can see a bit of through the link!
Before all the teams hit the road for Omaha Post 2 got a 7 - 1 win in over Grand Forks as Elias Harris through a complete-game, 1-hitter. Moorhead engaged in more of a shootout but were also able to put a fork in them before taking off, 12 - 8. D/G/F hung a couple touchdowns on Hawley while only letting one Nugget get home.
Down in Manningville the Deuce started with an 8 - 0 win as Dylan Erholtz spun a gem on the mound. They were then on the wrong end of a 4 - 0 final but still got the top spot out of pool play. That springboard got them a 12 - 4 victory as Tommy Simon went 3-3 with a home run to pace the offense. Hastings was able to match the pitching while scoring both of the runs to set up a final game versus Grand Island. Simon had another quality afternoon at the plate in the final game (3-3 (2)2b 3b 2R 2RBI), a 5 - 4 win over Grand Island.
Post 400 dropped their first game 9 - 0 to Creighton but bounced back with a 4 - 0 win over St. Michael as Matt Bryant struck out nine over eight innings while avoiding a walk. They then got a 2-hitter from Carsen Barta to lead the way to a 10 - 0 win. The 400 kept it going with a 10 - 7 win over DePere in the championship side of the field but were eliminiated Sunday afternoon by Bryant, AR.
Moorhead came up just shy of Arbor Bank, 6 - 5 and then were doubled-up by Byrd, LA 6 - 3 in their first day down South. The Blues came back with a 10-inning duel that they claimed 1 - 0 only to fall 5 - 2 versus Adrian, MI. They closed out their time in Omaha with a 6 - 0 win over Desoto.
West had the longest game of the week, 13 innings versus Omaha Westside but couldn't quite overcome the home team, 2 - 1.
The Rebels split their first day, losing to Brooklawn 8 - 0 and beating Northwood, LA 8 - 6. They followed that with an 18-run bonanza opposite River City
Kindred also got a pair off Grand Forks, 13 - 3 & 15 - 1 but couldn't keep the offense going against Gardner, losing 6 - 2.