Edenton, N.C. - UND baseball sophomore Jake Magner is spending his summer nearly 1,500 miles away from his home town of Grand Rapids, Minn., on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Sioux slugger was picked to play in the Coastal Plain Amateur Baseball League and began his summer season in late May playing first base and batting clean up for the Edenton Steamers.
Magner was recently named to the American Team in the Coastal Plain All-Star Game. He currently ranks in a tie for second in the league with eight home runs and leads his team with 28 RBI.
Read about his journey below in the fifth installment of a summer blog that Magner will provide for Sioux fans on his experiences in a league that features wood bats and some of the top collegiate players in the nation.
Swinging on the Banks: A few days ago, I experienced my very first Home Run Derby followed by the Coastal Plain League All-Star Game. The festivities were split up into two days, with the Home Run Derby Monday night and the All-Star game Tuesday. Both days had a great environment, with about 4,000 fans turning out for the All-Star game. Before the derby began, we took batting practice and then watched a softball game between the Wiminfton Fire Department and Police Department, which was pretty entertaining.
At 8 p.m., the stage was set for the Home Run Derby. They had all 16 of us participating run through the center field gates as we were announced. I was the second player to hit, and unfortunately, I did not get any out of the park, so I did not advance past the first round. It was still a lot of fun and a great experience for me. i would definitely want to try it again next summer.
On Tuesday, the festivities started with a nice lunch at a country club. Afterwards, we headed to the field for a "Scout Day" before the actual All-Star game. Scouts timed us in the 60-yard dash, watched us take batting practice, and watched us take infield/outfield. All in all, I would say there were about 15-20 pro scouts there, so it was a great opportunity to showcase your skills. The actual game was a lot of fun as well. The starters played the first five innings, then the rest of us got in for the remainder of the game. It ended up in a 2-2 tie after both teams ran out of pitching in the 10th.
It was a great All-Star break for me and now its time to make a push for the playoffs with 10 games remaining in the regular season. Right now, we sit tied for seventh in the league with the top 8 teams securing a playoff spot. Of our 10 games left five are against Outer Banks, three against second-half leaders Peninsula, and two are against Petersburg. Hopefully, we can put together a good run with these 10 games and climb a few spots into the playoffs.
