Bemidji State vs South Dakota:
Quick Facts
DATES: March 20-21, 2004
LOCATION: LaVista Athletics Complex; Omaha, Neb.
SERIES: first meeting
Bemidji State makes first weather-related changes for 2004
Bemidji State has made the first weather-related changes
to its 2004 schedule. Due to a record 18-inch snowfall
in Sioux City, Iowa, BSU’s scheduled March 20 double-header
at Briar Cliff Collgee has been cancelled. In addition,
the scheduled Mar. 21 double-header at South Dakota has
been moved to the LaVista Athletics Complex on the campus
of Papillion-LaVista High School in Omaha, Neb. BSU and
South Dakota will play an additional twinbill in Omaha
on Mar. 20.
2004 Weather Scoreboard
Games cancelled: 2
Games relocated: 2
Games added: 2
Noting BSU’s 0-10 start
Bemidji State has struggled to an 0-10 start out
of the gates in 2004, the team’s worst start since
1975. That year, BSU opened 0-11 en route to a 5-18 campaign
under head coach Bob Montebello.
BSU’s 0-10 start is
the fourth-worst start in school history. In addition to
the 1975 start, BSU started 0-12 (6-15 finish) in 1967 and
0-16 (0-16 finish) in 1958.
Losing streak reaches 11
Bemidji State’s 0-10 start to the 2004 season has extended
the team’s overall losing streak to 11 games, dating
back to an 11-7 loss to Concordia-St. Paul in its 2003 season
finale. Since complete season results are available starting
with the 1958 season, BSU’s current losing streak is
tied for the seventh-longest in school history.
BSU losing streaks (since 1958):
20 4/14/1958 - 3/12/1959
17 5/14/1966 - 5/6/1967
16 3/14/2000 - 4/14/2000
13 4/17/1996 - 4/28/1996
12 3/15/1999 - 3/30/1999
12 4/21/1990 - 5/7/1990
11 3/25/1975 - 4/25/1975
11 5/3/2003 - present
BSU in Season Openers
Bemidji State dropped the opener to its 53rd season of baseball,
25-0 at Central Oklahoma, on March 6. BSU now stands 19-33-1
all-time in season openers. The 25-0 loss was BSU’s
worst-ever defeat in a season opener (prev: 21-2 vs St.
Thomas, 4/9/1964) and is tied for the second-worst loss
in school history trailing only a 30-4 loss to Minnesota
in 1988.
Head Coach Chris Brown
Chris Brown (Jamestown (N.D.) College 2000) is in his second
season as head coach at Bemidji State and fourth with the
program after an assitant coaching stint under BSU baseball
icon Jim Grimm. Brown helped lead BSU to a 15-27 record
in his debut campaign in 2003, including an 11-11 finish
against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference competition.
Brown’s 11 league wins were second-most ever by a
rookie head coach at BSU trailing only a 13-8 league mark
in Doug Smith’s 1988 debut. Brown’s 15 overall
wins were also second-most ever by a BSU rookie head coach
and were second-most by any BSU team since 1997.
Brown has
a career record of 15-37 (.288) in his second season
as a collegiate head coach.
Brown is assisted by Mike Benke,
Rick Looker and Dan Persons. Benke (2001) and Looker (1996)
are both BSU alumni, while Persons is a 2002 grad of Nebraska-Omaha.
Beavers allow back-to-back 20-run games
Bemidji State allowed 25 and 20 runs, respectively,
in its first two games of the 2004 season at Central Oklahoma.
It marked just the second time in school history BSU had
allowed 20 or more runs in back-to-back games.
On March 30,
1982, Winona State posted 20-1 and 27-7 wins over Bemidji
State in a double header, the only other previous occasion
in which BSU allowed 20 runs in consecutive games.
UCO loss second-worst in school history
Only one loss in school history has come by a larger margin than BSU’s
25-0 setback to Central Oklahoma in the 2004 season opener. Minnesota blasted
Bemidji State, 30-4, in a nine-inning non-conference game in early May, 1988
(exact date not available).
The 25-run loss is tied with a 27-2 defeat at the
hands of Mayville (N.D.) State on April 6, 1991 for the second-worst loss
in school history.
Giving up 20...
Bemidji State has already allowed 20 or more runs twice in 2004. The
school record for 20-run games allowed in one season is three, set in 1982
and matched in 1999.
In 1982, BSU dropped 20-1 and 27-7 decisions to Winona
State on March 30, then lost a 21-12 decision to St. Xavier in the NAIA World
Series, June 2.
In 1999, BSU dropped a 20-0 decision to Wayne State (4/17/99),
lost 20-5 to North Dakota (4/28/99) and lost 27-5 to Winona
State (5/1/99). All three of those games were in Bemidji.
Klaers hitting streak at seven
Lost in the shuffle of Bemidji State’s rough start has been
the effort of sophomore infielder Tony Klaers. Klaers has hit safely in BSU’s
last seven games and is the team’s leadign hitter at .393. In fact, Klaers
is BSU’s only qualifying hitter (2.2 at-bats per game played) hitting
better than .226. He leads the team in hits (11) and doubles (3) and is tied
for second in RBI (5). He is also tied for the team lead in multi-hit games
(4) and multi-RBI games (1).
Klaers’ .393 average is 141 points higher
than the team average (.252).
Three-hit game for Wagner
Junior Dan Wagner posted Bemidji State’s only three-hit game of the season
when he went 3-for-5 at Central Missouri State on March 12. All three of his
hits were singles.
Wagner is hitting .385 with five hits in 13 at-bats so far this year.
Beavers Sport Pair of Two-Sport Crossovers
Nick Noack and non-roster player Adam Daley are expanding their Bemidji State
athletics resumes on the baseball diamond this spring. Daley is one of the
nation’s leading three-point shooters for BSU’s men’s basketball
team, while Noack spent the 2003 season as a redshirt freshman defensive
tackle on the football team.
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