Northfield Knights. Team to beat?

The club that calls Sechler park home has started out the summer with some new faces and others that can't seem to get away. The biggest new face acquired would be that of our incoming manager, Clark Johnson. Johnson, a long time veteran of the Cannon Valley League (CVL) has been brought on to give our former player/manager (Scott Paulson 3B) the opportunity to become a more focused player. Johnson has been determined to turn this squad into one that mixes solid fundamentals with the focus on the detail that should combine for a desirable outcome. Other acquisitions to this this year's team have been: Eric Dunivent, a much needed catcher who has been great defensively and hit many hard shots that have found almost as many gloves. Trevor Hill, another catcher who has shown off outstanding receiving skills that have given our pitchers an immeasurable advantage. Randall Kruse, a middle infielder that has found some playing time at second base, has had some timely hits, including a game winning RBI in Owatonna. Aaron Troyansky, a pitcher, has made his time count - a Carleton student from California only had as long as his school year kept him around, but provided sound defense at a variety of positions, and soaked up some good innings on the mound. Youngsters Blake Faust and Jake Pumper, who have the freshest contracts, have yet to show what they can do for the Knights, but they will add some needed depth all over the field.

After a series of booted balls and misplaced line drives, the Northfield Knights amateur baseball team stumbled to a 2-6 start of the 2008 season. Since then, they have won three of four, with some notable highlights. Jeremy Kruse P/OF; fresh off a season pitching at DCTC this past spring, has improved on his velocity, control, and mound presence. He has given some dominating performances on the mound, and complimented them with some spurts of offense as well. His most recent trip to the mound was a stellar complete game, three hit shutout of nemesis, Red Wing. He also had three hits in the game. Kruse uses a mid-eighties fastball that tails and sinks, a change-up, slider, and curve ball that can all be thrown for strikes at will. He will play a key role in the success of the Knights' summer.

Jeremy Kruse

Golden Gopher Luke Rassmussen has also had some dominating moments from the mound. He has lost some close games due to a lack of offense and defense. When Rassmussen is on point he is pert near un-hittable, showing off a high eighties fastball, change-up, and curve ball that keeps batters wishing.

Luke Rassmussen

The pitching has definitely been the strong point for this year's Knights team. The bats have just started to hit, and are going to have to keep putting runs together to help out our aces.

After a month of baseball the Knights have found a little groove and should be exciting to watch for the rest of the summer. So I suggest you make a trip down to old Sechler park, and take in some classic town ball.