Hayfield grad Tyler Krekling has been around baseball his entire life and as he finishes out his college baseball career at Division II Concordia St. Paul this Spring, he’s not planning on walking away from the game anytime soon.

Krekling still has what he hopes is a long amateur baseball career ahead of him and he’s looking to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Kasey, who is the head coach of the Hayfield High School baseball team. Tyler, who is going to student teach at Rochester John Marshall next Fall, has already talked with his big brother about helping Kasey coach the Vikings baseball team next year.

“I’ve learned a lot from the coaches up here and I want to bring that back to the southeastern part of the state,” Tyler said.

Tyler, an outfielder, grew up playing catch in the back yard with Kasey and their dad and he’s known baseball all of his life. Tyler starred at Hayfield, where the team was one win from state his senior year, he had a solid two years at Riverland Community College, and now he’s closing out his college career at Concordia on a high note, as the team sits at fourth place in the Northern Sun Conference.

“It has a little different feel than past years,” Tyler said. “Last year I was just trying to fit in and now I’m the old guy again like I was my sophomore year at Riverland. The coaches want me to be more of a leader. I’m trying to take it all in and enjoy this last month of school and baseball.”

Tyler has started all 20 games this season for the Golden Bears (10-10 overall, 8-4 Northern Sun) and he is hitting .308 with an on-base percentage of .402. He has hit three doubles, knocked in 12 runs, scored 12 runs and stole two bases. On defense, he has yet to commit an error.

Tyler had a big two games in a sweep over Wayne State, Neb. when he went 3-for-8 with five RBIs recently.

“We struggled down [in Arizona] and we didn’t play up to our potential,” Tyler said. “But right now we’re pretty happy with how we’re playing. We’ve had some losses we should’ve won and there’s always room for improvement.”

Tyler played against his former classmate and teammate Tyler Nelson, who is a red-shirt junior, last week and the Golden Bears split with Bemidji State. It may be the last time the two former Vikings face off at the college level unless the teams meet in the Northern Sun tournament.

“it was good to see him and he’s having a good year,” Tyler said of Nelson. “I’m excited to see how he does next year, because he’s already one of the best players in the conference.”

Nelson is hitting .326 with 10 doubles, 2 homers and 8 RBIs for Beavers (8-19, 5-8).

BASEBALL

Austin native Steve Serratore is hitting .242 with an on-base percentage of .363 at Division I Kansas State University.

Serratore has 6 doubles, 1 triple and 13 RBIs He is 4-for-5 on stolen bases and has a fielding percentage of .956.

Gabe Kasak has played in three games this season for the University of Sioux Falls (13-17 overall, 10-4 Northern Sun). Kasak is 1-for-1 with a run and a walk.

SOFTBALL

Hayfield grad Dani Wagner has played in 8 games for the University of Minnesota softball team this season.

Wagner is hitting .500 (2-for-4) with 2 doubles, 1 RBI and 3 runs for the Gophers (30-7 overall). Wanger is 1-for-2 on stolen bases.

Blooming Prairie grad Tricia DeBoer is hitting .275 with an on-base percentage of .344 with 5 doubles and 5 RBIs at Division II St. Cloud State University. DeBoer is 4-for-4 on steals for the Huskies (19-17 overall).

Austin grad Danielle Tschann has played 14 games this season at the University of St. Thomas (21-5) and she is hitting .333 with 2 homers, 6 RBIs and and 3 runs.

Blooming Prairie grad Shelbi Swenson is hitting .238 at Bethel College (14-10 overall). Swenson has 2 doubles, 1 triple and1 home run and 10 RBIs.

Austin grad Abbey Ball is 1-0 with a save and an ERA of 4.20 at UW-Stout (8-14 overall). Ball is 4-for-12 at the plate with 2 RBIs.

Austin grads Hope McAlister and Laura Siegfreid are members of the Riverland Community College softball team. Siegfreid is hitting .228 with 1 triple and 3 RBIs and McAlister is hitting .150 with 1 homer, 1 double and a team-high 7 RBs.

TRACK AND FIELD

Southland grad Elizabeth May competed in the Ashton May Invite for UW-La Crosse in La Crosse April 3.

May was part of the first place 4 x 100-meter relay team for UWL that had a time of 50.06 seconds.