Ridgewater baseball still on a roll

Future prospects for the Ridgewater College baseball team take diverse routes before ending up on the Willmar campus.

Many are recruited. Some start elsewhere and than reconsidered. Others hear about the baseball program from a friend or coach.

Whatever the path, the Warriors success the past 10 years is remarkable: nine straight Southern Division championships and five Region 13 championships in the past six seasons.

High school prospects learn that if you can make the Warriors there's a real opportunity to get to the NJCAA World Series.

The Warriors head into post-season 25-4-1. They moved one spot up in the rankings this week to No. 2, trailing only North Arkansas Junior College.

This week I visited with three second-year players.

Chad Willenbring is a right-handed pitcher from Cold Spring, who starred for Rocori High School in both baseball and basketball. He has a 3-0 record with a 2.1 ERA while working his way back from a year-old shoulder injury. He's also a young father.

Nic Locnikar is a 2005 Albany graduate who spent one semester at St. Cloud State before transferring here where his primary field of study is math. Encouraged by Ridgewater coach Dwight Kotila, the 6-foot-6 right-hander, a reliever last year, converted to a sidearm delivery. He's thrown a team-high 37 innings with a 1.89 ERA and a 6-0 record and five complete games.

Matt Bauer graduated from Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and played with in the Lions All-Star game. He was recruited by several four-year schools, including Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall.

But the chance to play an important role right away and get deep into the post-season is a selling point favoring Ridgewater. Bauer is batting .481 with 55 hits and 39 RBI, all team highs. His 18 doubles are twice as many as the next Warrior.

"Matt hit seven home runs last year and doesn't have any this year," observed Kotila. "But he's hitting everything on a line to every field. He's had about seven off-the-fence doubles."

Bauer's roots are in the country between Tracy and Balaton, where his father, Brian, went to high school and played football and ran track (His mother Tammy is a Chicago-area native).

Matt, who also plays for the Milroy Yankees town team, played outfield and DH last spring. This year, he was moved to third base.

"Matt's always been a great hitter," said Kotila. "But he's become a really good defensive third baseman. He should be (state) Player of the Year."

Locnikar moved from St. Cloud to rural Albany after elementary school. He didn't start playing organized baseball until seventh grade and played only one year of varsity baseball.

When he didn't make the St. Cloud State team, his high-school friend, Randy Lockridge, suggested Ridgewater.

"Randy was going to play at Ridgewater but then he had knee issues," said Locnikar. "I didn't like it at St. Cloud. It was before (Pat) Dolan became head coach."

Locnikar said his side-arm delivery is easy on his arm.

"It's like skipping rocks," he said.

St. Cloud State's Dolan announced Tuesday that they had signed Willenbring to a national letter of intent. He'll join current teammate Tyler Horning of Willmar.

Willenbring, a willowy 6-3 right-hander, attracted interest from the Gophers coming out of high school. But Ridgewater was highly recommended by his prep teammates.

His shoulder problem, which caused elbow pain, didn't require surgery, but the rehabilitation kept him out of town team last summer and he's still on a 50-pitch count.

"I lost about five miles per hour on my fastball so I'm maybe in the mid 80s now," he said. Instead of starting, he's most effective now in a closing role.

He and his girlfriend, Tina Welle, have a 16-month-old son Drew. Tina is attending the technical college in St. Cloud for nursing.

"I commute (from Cold Spring)," said Chad. "We split time living with my parents and her parents. Drew has two of everything."

Dunham decides

Mike Dunham, who threw for 18 touchdowns last fall, says he will attend Concordia College next fall and play football for Willmar alum Terry Horan.

He also visited Gustavus Adolphus, which has an immediate vacancy at quarterback.

Starting Concordia quarterback Jesse Nelson (Minnetonka) will be a senior next fall.

'Mike's Milers'

Mike Prunty, a former Cardinal assistant coach in both football and baseball, is battling Multiple Sclerosis. It forced him to leave his job as principal at the junior high.

Friends and colleagues have formed "Mike's Milers" to participate in the Multiple Sclerosis Walk starting at 11 a.m. Sunday at Robbins island. All donations go toward finding a cure for MS.