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The Northland Eagles Baseball team concluded its season with a picnic and awards ceremony at Nyvall Field in Longville, on Wednesday, June 12.

Team awards given out were; Batting champion (average) Senior- Patrick Kemper, Cy Young (pitching) Junior- Zak Nornberg, Most Improved - Justin Wicks and MVP - Zak Nornberg.

This season Nornberg, compiled a record of 2-4, 1 save, 2.68 ERA, 47 K in 47.0 innings, six with complete games pitched. His record did not show how well he pitched this past season. Another Junior, Austin Likens was 2-3 in seven games, with 13 K's, two complete games and 21.1 innings pitched. Sophomore, Justin Wicks was 1-2 in three appearances, notching 20 K's in 12.1 innings of work. Sophomore Gary Gross, was the only other pitcher of record on the season, starting two games and pitching 15 innings, striking out seven. Freshman Logan Gross appeared in two games in relief. The team ERA was 4.71 on the season, with opponents only batting .219 against the boys.

Batting leaders were;

Average- Kemper- .377, Logan Gross- .367, Gary Gross- .341 and Austin Likens- .300

On Base percentage; Likens- .426, L. Gross- .415, Wicks- .407 and G. Gross- .404.

RBI leader was Nornberg with 12, while Likens, Kemper and G. Gross each knocked in 10.

Logan Gross - most extra base hits (6) with four doubles and two triples.

Leading the team in stolen bases was L. Gross (12), with Nornberg swiping (9).

Logan Gross led the team in runs scored with 20 and Nornberg (19) and Likens (16) following closely behind.

Sophomores, Evan Daudt , Marcus Woods and Tyler Daudt, Freshman Dustin Sepin and newcomer Junior Jacob Trostle, throughout the season played major roles on the team. Evan Daudt played both LF and 1B while batting .255 with six RBI. Woods, started the season at 2B before moving to CF where he made several outstanding catches. Tyler Daudt, playing in RF or as the DH, continued to show steady improvement and is a leader with his upbeat attitude. Sepin, who missed about half of the regular season due to an ankle injury, played RF while seeing limited at bats. Trostle, joined the team this year after not playing since T-Ball and brought his "I want to learn" thinking, to every practice and game. While seeing limited action Jacob did lead the team in getting hit by the pitch (2) in only 12 plate appearances.

Thanks goes to the "Stat Girls" Liz Tabaka and Rainy Campbell, Head Coach Ben Kinser and Assisstant Scott Wicks, Jr. High Coach Steve Kovall, and to Casey Johnson and Chris Carlson for stepping in when Steve was out.

Entering the 2014 season, this group of players will be losing only one player (Patrick Kemper) and will have plenty of experience over the past two seasons and the additional knowledge that to be competitive in Section 8, the fundamentals is what will get them to where they want to be, Section 8A Champions. A recent trip to watch the State Championship Games at Target Field has motivated a couple players to get everyone together over the summer to work on their game. With a commitment to "What did your opponent do today" mindset, I am looking forward to next season already.[[In-content Ad]]

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