Metrodome Demise
MENOMONIE (February 25, 2013) - Over the next two weeks, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome will almost feel like home for the UW-Stout baseball team.
The Blue Devils open the 2013 campaign, their second under head coach
Toby Gardenhire, Tuesday, Feb. 26 when they face Bethel University at the Metrodome in a pair of seven inning games starting at 9:15 p.m. The Blue Devils will play four dates at the Metrodome - three over the first two weeks of the season. Stout will face Hamline University, Monday, March 4 at 4:30 p.m., Augsburg College, Tuesday, March 12 at 9:15 p.m. and will make their final appearance at the Metrodome, Wednesday, March 27, when they meet Macalester College at 9:45 p.m.
The Minnesota Sports Facility Administration (MSFA) announced Thursday, Feb. 21, that the Metrodome is scheduled to be razed in February, 2014, to make room on the site for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium. The Metrodome is the only sports facility to have played host to Major League Baseball's All-Star Game (1985), the Super Bowl (1992), the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four (1992, 2001) and the World Series (1987 and 1991).
Upper Midwest universities across the full gamut - NCAA I, II and III, as well as NAIA schools, high school and even the Minnesota Gophers women's softball team - will need to make alternative plans for early season baseball when Mother Nature does not allow such a thing next spring.
For Gardenhire, the Metrodome was part of his upbringing. Gardenhire came to the Twin Cities area when his father, Ron, joined the Minnesota Twins as an assistant coach in 1991, the year the Twins won their second World Series ring in four years. The elder Gardenhire was tabbed as the Twins manager in 2002.
Toby Gardenhire has some fond memories of one of the most loved (by a few) and one of the most despised sports arenas in the United States.
Gardenhire said that he idolized Kirby Puckett and Ron Gardenhire's locker was next to Puckett. On Sundays, the clubhouse was open for players and coaches to bring their children to have breakfast together before the players would get ready for the game.
"One day while my dad was getting the balls ready for batting practice," Gardenhire said, "Puckett took me down to the field to work on my swing. He taught me how to do the big leg kick that he was famous for while he was playing. When all the players came down to stretch, Puck had me show them my new swing and they all rolled around on the ground laughing. It was pretty cool, and I'll never forget it."
The Twins won the World Series in 1991, and 9-year-old
Toby Gardenhire was at games six and seven.
"In Game 6, Puckett robbed a ball off the wall in left center field with what was probably the best catch I have ever seen,: Gardenhire said. "Then in extra innings, he hit a walk off homer.
"Game 7 was the most unforgettable moment I ever had in the Dome. I remember the game was tied and the Atlanta Braves had the bases loaded. I got so caught up in the moment that I started bawling my eyes out in the stands thinking we were going to lose. Then they hit into a home to first double play and the whole place erupted.
"After Gene Larkin got the walk off hit, my family and I got to go down on the field for the celebration. It was crazy down there. I then was allowed to go into the Twins clubhouse for the party after the game. I remember walking around searching for my dad in a sea of reporters and champaigne and my dad running up and grabbing me. He looked at me and said “Toby, we are the world champions.” I'll never forget the look on his face or how excited he was at that moment. It was a once in a lifetime experience."
UW-Stout has had its own history in the Metrodome. There are not too many places in the MIdwest one can go to a November football game and not shiver. The Blue Devil football team participated in the Border Battle when the WIAC took on the Division II NSIC. But it was the baseball program that utilized the Metrodome. Coach Terry Petrie started the Blue Devils parade to the Dome, and Joe Vavra, who is now the Twins third base coach, in his only season as Stout's coach, played two doubleheaders in the Dome. Craig Walter would schedule, one, maybe two doubleheaders in the Dome, as did Seth Maier. But in 2007, Stout played at the Dome five times. Rarely did the Blue Devils have primetime scheduling. Generally, Stout would have the 7 a.m. start or the 9:30 p.m. time slot. (Anyone remember playing UW-Whitewater with a start time after midnight?)
Gardenhire, who was hired last January, had one doubleheader scheduled when he picked up the Blue Devils scorecard. This year, he opted for four doubleheaders scattered throughout February and March.
When the Blue Devils take the field Tuesday night, they will return 16 letterwinners, five position starters and two starting pitchers.
Shortstop
Ryan Gangestad (So, Maple Grove, Minn) and outfielder
Santiago Morales (Sr, West St. Paul, Minn) earned WIAC honorable mention last season. Gangestad and Morales also led the team in hitting, Gangestad at a .383 clip and Morales at .351. Gangestad was a second team all-region selection. Morales posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage and earned Golden Glove honors. Morales tied a school single season record with five triples and banged out four home runs.
Catcher
Matt Guida (Sr, Hawley, Minn), a 2011 first team all-WIAC selection returns behind the plate. Outfielder
Brett Vavra (So, Chippewa Falls) and designated hitter
Charlie Meyer (So, Janesville) return. Guida hit .309 last year, a year he was adapting to Gardenhire's emphasis on catchers calling the defensive signals. Meyer hit .333, working his way into the line-up for much of the second half of the season.
The Blue Devils return infielders
Chris Sill (Sr, Waubasha, Minn),
Kasey Kruse (So, Boyceville) and
Jake Lunow (So, Princeton), outfielder
Colin Pechacek (So, River Falls) and catcher
Jared Francois (Jr, Burlington). Sill started 17 games last season, mostly at third base, and is one of six returners to have hit more than .300 last season.
Carter Vogt (Sr, Buffalo, Minn) and
Dan Britts (Sr, Nekoosa) head up the Blue Devils' pitching staff and are the only returning starters. Vogt made nine appearances with six starts, working 48.0 innings, second most on the team, finishing with an ERA of 5.62 and 20 strikeouts. Britts made 12 appearances with four starts, posting an ERA of 5.35 with a team-high 28 strikeouts.
Andrew Driessen (Sr, Champlin Park, Minn) made a team-high 14 appearances and posted a 2-0 overall record and had one save.
Ian Schiltz (Jr, Franklin) made six appearances before injury ended his season. He struck out five batters in just over five innings of work.
Adam Widder (So, Wauwatosa) came out of the bullpen 11 times for a 2-1 record, recording one save and four strikeouts over 10.1 innings of work. The Blue Devils will be without reliever
John Ewald, who is out this season on an internship. Ewald posted a team-high three saves.
While the 2012 Blue Devils had no left-handed pitchers, the 2013 squad can boast three lefties, including
Brad Kohn (Sr, Charles, Ill) who played in 2011.
Chris Andersen (Jr, Wausau), a right-handed pitcher, returns after a one-year hiatus.
In a brief synopsis of the team, Stout returns 60 percent of their hits, 57 percent of their runs, 55 percent of their RBI, 33 percent of their home runs, 40 percent of their innings pitched and 43 percent of their strikeouts pitched.
The 2012 team batting average was the highest since the 2004 season and last year's squad had the best fielding percentage since the 2007 season.
