2009 Season Preview

I am very excited to begin my 7th year as the Head Baseball Coach at Riverland Community College. The 2008 roster has 30 players including 19 new players to the Blue Devil Program. The Devils return 5 starting position players along with 5 starting pitchers and the designated hitter. The excellent returning talents, along with an outstanding recruiting class, have the Blue Devil fans looking forward to the 2009 season!

The returning starting pitchers include two All-Conference pitchers; Brady Banse from Forest Lake, MN (7-1, 1.84 era) and Bandon Huhn from Appleton, WI (5-2, 2.32 era). Brady and Brandon will anchor a very strong pitching staff. Other returning pitchers who had starts for the Devils last season were; Alex Buckentine (Norwood Young America, MN – 1-2, 7.38 era), Nate Steenblock (Kenyon-Wanamingo, MN – 2-1, 2.46 era), and Shane Lang (St. Charles, MN – 2-1, 4.13 era). The pitching staff will be very deep this year with a large recruiting class of pitchers. The rest of the pitching staff includes; Mitch Jaeger (Rapid City, SD), Ryan Palmer (Rapid City, SD), Brian Voigt (Southland, MN), Zach Prins (Owatonna, MN), Brad Carr (Irondale, MN), Kody Retterath (Southland, MN), Drew Madsen (Lake Crystal-Welcome-Memorial, MN), Kenny Wollin (Waterville -Elysian –Morristown, MN), Kyle Maloney (Owatonna, MN), and Josh Pilcher (Owatonna, MN). Jaeger, Palmer, Voigt, and Retterath all lead their respective teams to 2nd place state tournament finishes.

"The last two recruiting classes have been very good! This year’s team will be very skilled and we will have depth at every position. If we stay healthy this could be a great season! One of our goals is to improve as the season progresses. The Florida Spring Trip will definitely help with the evaluation process, the nice thing is that we have position battles at most positions this year. Our sophomores have provided great leadership in the Fall and I hope that will continue through our Winter workouts. We definitely have more talent than this season than we have had here in the past."

There will be a new starting catcher/catchers for the Blue Devils this year. Gone is last year’s All-American catcher Pat Wolard (.453, 7 HR, 43 RBI). Wolard will be difficult to replace but Coach Koenigs has brought in 4 solid catchers to battle for playing time at that position! The guys battling for that position are; Derek Emanuel (Southland, MN), Tim Van Houdt (W-E-M, MN), Derek Hahn (Lakeville, MN), and Matt Tetrick (Irondale, MN).

The infield this year will be very talented. The team will miss standout third baseman Andy Van Remortel but besides Andy the infield is intact. The infield will be led by three returning starters including; second baseman baseman Chris Lindemann (.385, 14 SB, 24 Runs, .541 onb), shortstop Brandon Huhn (.304, 8 HR, 30 RBI, .663 SLG), and first baseman Shane Lange (.426, 16 RBI, .596 SLG). The shortstop position will be very strong with the addition of Southland’s three-time All-Conference shortstop Brian Voigt. Voigt (.447, 12 HR, 57 RBI’s) and his Southland Rebels team finished second at the State Tournament in June. Josh Pilcher (Owatonna, MN) will also see some time at shortstop. Pilcher and Voigt will be the primary 3rd basemen for the Blue Devils this season. Along with Lindeman at 2nd base will be another Southland graduate, Winston Smith. Smith, a three-time All-Conference player for the Rebels, and Lindemann, a former two-time All-State player from Rapid City, will provide stability at the 2nd base position. Drew Madsen (LCWM, MN) and Mitch Kaplan (Austin, MN) will be infield utility players and will provide great depth to the squad. The starting first baseman position will be decided in the off-season with Shane Lange as one of the early favorites to land the position. There will be stiff competition though with several newcomers looking to unseat Lange at the first base position. Other candidates for the position are Kody Retterath (Southland, MN), Brad Carr (Irondale, MN), Dustin Fritz (Spirit Lake, Iowa), Kenny Wollin (W-E-M, MN), and Nate Oxley (Southland, MN)

Two starters return to the Blue Devil outfield this season. Kyle Starkey (.402, 25 Runs, 19 RBI) and Andy Behnke (.344, 19 RBI, 17 Runs) return to lead the Devils. Starkey, a Rapid City native, and Behnke, a former Marshall standout, bring a ton of experience to the Devil outfield. Both were everyday outfielders last season. Other candidates for playing time in the outfield this season are; Shawn Pape (Winona, MN), Derek Hahn (Lakeville, MN), Danny Dewitz (Maple River, MN), Corey Feickert (Rapid City, MN), and Jamie Bushman (St. Charles, MN),. Voigt, Kaplan and Madsen may also see time in the outfield. Dewitz was the starting designated hitter for the Devils last season.

I am looking forward to this season, if we avoid injuries this should be an excellent season! We have some depth at every defensive position this year and are deeper at the pitching position than we have ever been before! "The goal for this season is a 25-win season and a trip to the State Tournament. We have an extremely tough conference; I believe it to be one of the toughest D.III JUCO conferences in the nation. I believe that we will build on last season’s success and get ourselves into the state tournament!

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Page Last Updated: September 23, 2008 1:47 PM